Municipal bodies being held to higher standard

Municipalities are facing some pretty strict requirements in terms of meeting provincial legislation standards, some relating to staff and volunteer training around new accessibility laws and some around proper meeting procedures such as posting agendas and filing minutes for public record. And while the scrutiny is difficult to adjust to, it is for the best.

The Ontario Ombudsman, an independent Office of the Ontario legislature, began taking complaints about municipalities in the New Year.

Until recently, the Ombudsman had limited jurisdiction in municipalities, only to enforce the open meeting Municipal Act requirements, investigating complaints about closed meetings, where investigators had not been appointed by the municipality. (Clearview does have an appointed investigator.) The new power extends to all areas of municipal government.

The changes more than double the number of public sector bodies within the ombudsman’s jurisdiction, adding the province’s 444 municipalities and 21 publicly funded universities. The expansion is the result of the Public Sector and MPP Accountability and Transparency Act, 2014.

According to the Ombudsman’s Office, it receives more than 20,000 complaints per year about the more than 500 provincial government bodies it oversees. Most cases are resolved informally, but the Ombudsman has strong powers to investigate both individual and systemic problems and to recommend solutions. The Office has also handled 246 complaints about school boards since assuming that responsibility on Sept. 1.

Although the Ombudsman’s recommendations are not binding, almost all have been accepted by government over the past decade.

In the past 10 years, the office has had to turn away more than 12,000 complaints about municipalities and the demand has increased since Bill 8 was passed. From the day the bill received royal assent (December 10, 2014) to January of this year, the Ombudsman received 2,227 complaints about municipalities.

Most of those complaints have been resolved informally, at the local level. No formal investigations have been launched to date. “The role of an ombudsman is to make things better for citizens by getting their problems with government administration solved as quickly as possible, at the lowest level possible, and in the most satisfactory manner possible,” said ombudsman Paul Dubé who took office on April 1.

The Ombudsman is an office of last resort, he noted, whether the issue involves provincial bodies or those in the broader public sector. “Ombudsman staff are experienced at pointing people in the right direction to resolve their issues – but we are also here to help them when those avenues are exhausted, or if there is a broader issue that warrants investigation.”

Anyone with an unresolved complaint about a municipality or university can contact the Ombudsman at 1-800-263-1830 or info@ombudsman.on.ca. Visit www.ombudsman.on.ca.