St. Albertans could have a new way to lodge complaints about municipal processes if the provincial government has its way.
As part of the proposed updates to the Modernized Municipal Government Act, the provincial government would seek to expand the mandate of the Alberta ombudsman.
That expansion would include being able to investigate complaints about municipal actions or decisions.
“I have mixed feelings on it,” said Mayor Nolan Crouse. He compared it to inspecting products after the fact rather than trying to establish processes to ensure mistakes aren’t made up front.
“If I was going to put a dollar into something I would rather train people upfront than inspect after the fact,” Crouse.
He said he hopes the idea isn’t meant to inspect when people simply don’t like a decision that’s been made.
Minister of Municipal Affairs Danielle Larivee said in a statement that Albertans asked for improvements to municipal transparency and accountability during the consultation process attached to the review of the bill.
“This allows Albertans to bring matters of concern to the attention of an impartial, third-party that can investigate issues as necessary. It creates an additional accountability mechanism for municipalities, and gives Albertans another resource to have their local concerns addressed in a fair, efficient, and transparent manner. The ombudsman will not have any impact on the democratic operation of the city, and will instead validate procedural fairness,” Larivee’s statement said.
Crouse noted there aren’t a lot of details yet of what or how complaints to the ombudsman would work.
“The devil’s in the details,” he said.
The details will need to be seen when any associated regulations are developed said Coun. Cathy Heron, who serves as a director on the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association board.
She said that’s the case with many of the proposed new additions to the act. Until then, she’s not too worried about the idea.
“I see no problem with it at all,” Heron said. She said her understanding is the ombudsman will mostly be able to look at administrative fairness versus wading into council disputes or code of conduct issues.
Right now, there aren’t many venues for complaints about municipalities. There is the civil court system, or residents can try and get enough signatures on a petition to request Municipal Affairs do a municipal inquiry or a municipal audit.
University of Alberta Jim Lightbody said the provincial government is trying to both show more trust in municipalities, via initiatives like the big city charters with Edmonton and Calgary, but also to have more control through ideas like the ombudsman expansion.
“You can’t have it both ways,” Lightbody said. “They haven’t really thought it through.”
Handling municipal complaints could take a large slice of the ombudsman’s time, he said, and wondered if the move was really necessary.
In smaller cities and towns, he noted, the council members are easily accessible to the public.
If it was determined such a role is needed, Lightbody suggested the municipalities could install such an office within their community, perhaps combining it with an internal auditor or other independent review type position.
That would help avoid any concerns about provincial overload, he said.
Alberta’s current ombudsman, Peter Hourihan, said in a statement he was encouraged by the government’s decision to expand the role.
“Our role is to facilitate fairness and ensure clear and consistent decision-making. Including municipalities under the ombudsman’s jurisdiction enhances transparency and accountability and offers Albertans value.”
