Ottawa County Honors Employee for Customer Service

Meet Kristin Caron- @miOttawa County’s newest outstanding customer service award recipient. http://bit.ly/cs-award 

Ottawa County extends its congratulations to Kristin Caron who was selected to receive the Outstanding Customer Service Award for the first quarter of 2015. Caron is a Probation Specialist for Ottawa County 58th District Court Probation and Community Corrections. Meet Kristin Caron at http://bit.ly/cs-award.

picThe individual who nominated Kristin wrote:  

“I was told by a coworker of an incident where Kristin was working and provided an example of outstanding customer service and I would like to see her recognized for her actions.Kristin had been at work conducting home checks and during one stop she noticed something to be off about a probationer’s behavior. Upon asking the probationer if everything was alright, that person confided that she was upset and considering self-harm. Kristin asked whether or not she had a plan to harm herself, and after she was shown the tool the probationer planned to use to harm herself, Kristin asked if she could turn the tool over to the individual’s social worker who lived nearby and was able to remove the tool from the home. Kristin then went out of her way to go to the store and purchase a journal and some pens and returned to the distressed probationer’s home and recommended that the person try journaling when they were feeling overwhelmed. When I heard about this from a coworker, I was extremely impressed with the level of care and thoughtfulness Kristin demonstrated in her actions. She went above and beyond by reaching out to the individual to ask what was wrong and then taking the additional steps well outside of what is required of her to prevent the individual from harm. Not only did Kristin prevent harmful behavior, but she also provided a healthy outlet for the individual to express her feelings in similar future situations.”

“Kristin has a great work ethic and a willingness to go above and beyond.  I am pleased and honored to work with her,” said Alma Valenzuela, Assistant Director of Probation and Community Corrections.

Ottawa County employees are trained to present a friendly, professional demeanor treating customers with integrity and respect. The Outstanding Customer Service Award is presented quarterly to an Ottawa County employee who exemplifies this to both internal and external customers. Nominations for the award can come from both inside and outside the organization. Customers can nominate an Ottawa County employee for an Outstanding Customer Service award at miOttawa.org.  

“It has been about two years since Ottawa County has overhauled its Customer Service culture and we hope our residents can feel it. We are here to help.” commented Shannon Felgner, Communications Manager for Ottawa County. “We understand that pursuing any government service can feel intimidating.”

Customer Service is one of the County’s Four C’s, along with Communication, Cultural Intelligence and Creativity. Access county services and learn more at miOttawa.org, facebook.com/miottawa or @miOttawa on Twitter.