Denver is passing on misleading information about pothole repairs because it's overwhelmed by the number of complaints received in the past six weeks.

The city's 311 call center is telling people who have filed complaints that their cases are "closed," indicating the work has been done, when in fact the complaints are being added to a growing list of pothole requests.

Under normal circumstances, said Michael Major, director of the city's 311 customer care operations, the case would remain open until the pothole is fixed.

But Major said Thursday that an "inordinate number" of pothole complaints is overwhelming the system, causing the city to pass what he acknowledges is "misleading" information.

Here's the problem: There are so many complaints that the Public Works Department doesn't have time to update each case after a pothole has been filled.

When 311 operators receive a complaint, they forward it to Public Works. "They transfer that information to this list of potholes to be filled," Major said. "Then they close the case down. That doesn't mean necessarily that the pothole has been filled. It is just put on a routing list."

John Sadwith, president of the Crestmoor Park Homeowners Association - Filing Two, said it's "ludicrous" for the city to say that a case has been closed when the work hasn't been done.

"The whole point of the 311 system when they started it was that you could make a complaint about something, they would give you a number so you could track it until the completion of it," he said.

Citizens can check the status of their complaints by calling 311 back or through a link on the city's Web site.

"That's the whole point of 311: so you don't have to call back," Sadwith said. "All it's done is added at least one layer, if not two layers, of bureaucracy."

Major said he would change operators' scripts.

chacond@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5099