Riga City Neighborhood Residents Centre is the structural unit of the City Council, which provides information to the residents regarding the services offered by the municipality. The Centre is one of the main communication channels between the municipality and the residents, as well as an important channel for ensuring a reciprocal link enabling the municipality to respond quickly and effectively to the problems and proposals of the community.
The idea of the Centre is that it is enough for a person to stop just at one “stop”, i.e. at the information centre, in order to receive comprehensible information regarding the relevant problem, to get advice (including legal assistance) regarding the issues within the competence of the municipality, or to submit the documents necessary for handling the relevant issue, and to get the answer at the time provided for by the law.
The branch offices of The Centre are located in easily accessible places – in the premises of the executive boards of districts (suburbs).
The Centre provides information regarding:
- the municipality structure, competencies and powers of the structural units and the staff of the Council;
- legal and judicial aspects of municipal services;
- municipal institutions and enterprises (types, location, phone numbers);
- manages free information service.
- receives visitors, reviews and registers their applications; follows the processing of the applications and provides answers to the submitted applications, complaints and proposals.
In addition, the Centre fulfils the following tasks:
- coordinates and monitors the work done by the structural units and institutions of the municipality regarding the residents’ applications that have been submitted to The Centre, and monitors the quality of application processing.
- maintains and regularly updates informative data basis on the types of services rendered by the RCC structural units, municipal enterprises and institutions, as well as by public institutions, or information regarding the amendments to the provision of such services.
- provides free information, consultations and legal assistance.
The Centre also provides the following services:
- organises the flow of visitors and registers them for having a meeting with the Executive Director of Riga City and his/her deputies;
- prepares basic reference material that is needed for ensuring visitors’ reception;
- compiles the visitors’ applications submitted to the Centre, analyses the most relevant problems and works out proposals for handling them;
- develops standard forms for the needs of visitors (prepares formalized forms, application models, reference information, special cards for visitors on handling the issues in sequence according to the procedure for handling relevant issues and in compliance with the laws in effect and with the document standards approved by the provider (structural units) of the relevant (general and special) service;
- compiles information regarding the services rendered by the RCC structural units and municipal institutions, develops and unifies information in writing about the procedure on handling standard issues, their sequence, as well as about the documents needed for implementing the procedures;
- registers “hotline” calls;
- provides legal consultations regarding the issues within the competence of the municipality;
- maintains links with the state and public organisations, and with other municipal structures for passing the information through the Riga City Neighborhood Residents Centre to visitors.