The City of Selkirk has won a national award for its CitizenSupport service request program. The Willis Award for Innovation was presented by the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA) at its national conference held in Mont Tremblant, Quebec on May 27 during the Awards of Excellence Program.
One-stop shop for citizen service
CitizenSupport involves the integration of a website, in-person service, a call centre, a service tracker/ticketing system, customer relationship management (CRM) software, artificial intelligence tools, and a database of service information — all to bridge the gap between citizens and municipal services.
“The City of Selkirk thanks CAMA for its recognition of our CitizenSupport service. CitizenSupport is a holistic approach to meeting the needs of our citizens,” says Selkirk CAO Duane Nicol.
“It brings together all of these tools in a cohesive system that is continuously improving and adapting as we go. Our approach goes beyond having these elements in place; it integrates them into a more seamless process, allowing us to deeply understand and respond to citizens’ concerns individually and collectively, improve our responses, and even anticipate needs and provide proactive guidance to city departments.”
A new approach to service
The city was presented the award in the Under 20,000 Population category. The Willis Award for Innovation, awarded in recognition of Jack Willis for his contribution to CAMA, recognizes programs, projects or services that demonstrate new approaches to leading, facilitating, or administering which result in positive changes to local government processes and practices, and ultimately bring outstanding benefits to the organization and the community.
“CAMA is pleased to recognize Selkirk for the administrative excellence demonstrated though its service request program,” said Tony Kulbisky, CAMA President, CAMA Representative for Alberta and CAO for Westlock County in Alberta.
“It brings together all of these tools in a cohesive system that is continuously improving and adapting as we go.”
Duane Nicol, CAO
“It is inspiring that Selkirk could make improvements and better deal with citizen requests, while reducing demands on city resources.”
For Mayor Larry Johannson, the award is an acknowledgement of the city’s efforts to provide outstanding service to the citizens of Selkirk.
“We’re thrilled to be recognized for the work that’s gone into providing exceptional customer service to our citizens,” Johannson said.
“The city prides itself on being innovative and creating systems that improve the way we work. Our administration has made it easy for citizens to connect with the city, and through CitizenSupport we’ve provided numerous avenues for them to do so. We recognize that people are comfortable communicating and accessing information in different ways, so we cover all bases. If you’re comfortable phoning and speaking to a staff member, you can do that. If you want to use your smart phone, you can do that. We’ve introduced AI as an enhancement and we’re improving it every day, so there is something for everyone.”
“We recognize that people are comfortable communicating and accessing information in different ways, so we cover all bases.”
Mayor Larry Johannson
Launched in 2018, CitizenSupport has transformed how the city engages with citizens, enhancing responses to service requests while reducing demands on city resources.
Previously, when citizens had questions or requests for service, they would need to figure out who to call and then get a hold of them. For the citizen, this meant misdirected inquiries, leaving messages, dropped call transfers, and significant delays. That fragmented process has become a centralized system where every request is tracked, categorized, and resolved with accountability and efficiency.
CitizenSupport is continuously improving
Following a business re-engineering process, the city developed a structured hierarchy of services and sub-services. At the core of CitizenSupport are Citizen Intent Forms, designed to capture, document, and continuously improve responses to citizen inquiries. If the necessary information isn’t available or is out of date, the question is escalated, and the correct response is added for future use.
In 2023, the system was enhanced with the addition of Chuck, a chatbot who helps answer questions on the City’s website and on the MySelkirkConnect App. And in 2025, Charlotte, an AI Assistant, was added to the phone system to help when CitizenSupport representatives (CSRs) are busy helping others, or to answer questions after regular business hours.
The city’s two CSRs saw a combined 15,734 citizen interactions and 12,890 support tickets created in 2024. Chuck and Charlotte aim to address some of these interactions so that the CSRs can enhance the service they are providing.
CitizenSupport now brings together Selkirk’s website, front desk, call centre, service tracker/ticketing system, customer relationship management (CRM) software, artificial intelligence, and a database of information to provide a holistic, citizen-first approach. This model demonstrates how municipalities can turn citizen support into a continuous cycle of learning, improvement, and stronger community connections.
CAMA celebrates the best in creative and successful programs in local governments
Bev Hendry, Chair of the 2025 CAMA Awards Committee and CAMA Past President, said the awards recognize the exemplary work done of administrators and government.
“CAMA’s Awards of Excellence Program celebrates the best in local government and recognizes the professional municipal administration needed to deliver creative and successful programs, projects or services,” Hendry said.
“Each year we are amazed at the calibre of submissions received. Congratulations to the winners and everyone who submitted an entry.”
A total of 54 submissions were received for this year’s awards program. To find out more about each award, and to see a video outlining each project, visit www.camacam.ca/awards and look for the award recipients’ link.
The Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA) is a national, non-profit association open to all Chief Administrative Officers / City Managers and any person employed in a senior management position that reports directly to a CAO. With a membership of over 900 senior municipal employees from all parts of Canada, CAMA collectively represents more than 85% of the nation’s population.
