Council worries that adopting complaints process will generate complaints from residents

At tonight's council meeting, the agenda contains a recommendation for hiring a municipal Ombudsman.

There are no reasons why a municipal Ombudsman is necessary. Newmarket taxpayers already support the Ontario Ombudsman, who has authority to oversee municipal government services. So at no extra costs to the Newmarket taxpayer, residents could simply continue with referring complaints to the Ontario Ombudsman's office.

But our Council is inclined to spend extra money and have taxpayers pay for this additional, Newmarket specific Ombudsman. The cost is expected to be in the range of $12,000 annually as a retainer - plus $280 per hour for any complaints received.

What an Ombudsman does is to ensure that government services are provided in a fair and equitable manner. The Ombudsman makes sure that the Town of Newmarket doesn't discriminate against anyone and that processes are applied consistently. Residents can only file a complaint to the Ombudsman once all other avenues of complaint within the municipality have been exhausted.

With that in mind, last week's debate at the Committee of the Whole meeting on the hiring of an Ombudsman was bizarre. The main crux of some Council member's arguments was a worry that there could potentially be 15-20 complaints, as Deputy Mayor John Taylor insisted. He felt that paying $280 per hour for this many complaints would be excessive.

Councillor Twinney asked for reports from staff on the number of the complaints received. When she asked for these reports annually, Mr. Taylor interceded and suggested that the reports should be made monthly.

There was even a suggestion that the contract with the Ombudsman contain an "out" clause, should there be too many complaints received.

All of this may seem reasonable except when you remember what the purpose of the Ombudsman is. The Ombudsman investigates only when government services are not distributed fairly and equitably.

So if there are a lot of complaints, then the issue isn't with the Ombudsman. The issue then becomes one of where the Town of Newmarket is failing to provide government services to residents.

And also remember that the job of a Councillor was to ensure that the staff of the Town of Newmarket fulfills its duties owed to the public.

Why would our Council members want to take any measure that would prevent residents from complaining if the staff of the Town of Newmarket isn't doing a good job?