The City of Troy is investing in a 311 calling system that should make it easier for residents to have questions answered and services provided in a timely fashion.

After the system is up and running, residents will be able to call 311, instead of the city’s main line, 566-0177.

“I think it will be money well spent,” said Mayor Jason A. Reeves.

The Public Service Commission has already approved Troy for the 311 exchange and the Troy City Council voted to award the service bid to QScend Technologies for consulting, support and maintenance and product hosting.

“It will allow us to maintain and track all calls that come in to the city,” Reeves said. “It’s a tool to better serve our citizens.”

Reeves said by using a central number, callers won’t have to guess what department they should call for help, or who they should ask for. A call center will do the work for them. The program software will also keep track of the resolution of calls to make sure everyone gets a call back to ensure a problem was handled, or question was answered.

“This will also take a great deal of pressure off our 911 call takers,” Reeves said, noting that the police station gets calls about times for fireworks, power outages and other non-emergency questions that can be handled by the 311 call center.

There is also a planned mobile application to help facilitate Troy residents with their questions and service requests.

“The 311 system will handle anything that would be related to a city service,” Reeves said. “It will be great from a customer service standpoint.”

The council voted to move forward with the system at Tuesday night’s city council meeting. QScend Technologies also provides services to Tuscaloosa, Albany, Ga., and Montgomery.

The cost of the service was not available at deadline Wednesday.