The latest report from Saskatchewan's ombudsman says her office receives a lot of complaints about bad behaviour by municipal councils in smaller centres.
In 2015, Ombudsman Mary McFadyen's office was authorized to begin hearing complaints about cities, towns and rural municipalities in the province.
Her 2017 annual report, released Thursday, says complaints about the municipal sector increased by 13 per cent compared to the previous year, with 78 per cent of complaints coming from smaller centres.
It is so important that they follow the rules.- Mary McFadyen
"Most of the time we can deal with stuff without doing a formal investigation. We will phone an organization and say what we are looking for," said McFadyen.
Council conduct a common complaint
Complaints about services like water and sewer, drainage, police and parking were common. But more than 25 per cent (147 out of 572) were about council conduct. More than half of those behaviour-based complaints were filed by former or current employees, or a fellow council member.
The ombudsman also highlighted another problem with smaller local governments. When McFadyen's office calls to look into complaints and requests things like minutes from meetings, they are often met with some resistance.
"Most of the time what we are looking for are documents that have to be publicly available," she said.
Fewer complaints through education
The ombudsman chalks that resistance up to a "high learning curve," and said that for the most part a little patience goes a long way in dealing with municipalities. Now though, there is a renewed focus in helping local governments have their own in-house complaint-handling process that is both effective and fair, avoiding the need for the ombudsman to step in.
"We are really trying to do lots of outreach and going out and trying to explain to people what we are doing and why it is so important that they follow the rules."
McFadyen hopes that effort can help lower the number of complaints her office is called on to investigate.