Council & Business
23 March, 2023
Complaints rate high in local shire, report finds
Central Goldfields Shire Council attracted the highest rate of complaints the Victorian Ombudsman made enquiries about, according to their annual report for 2021-2022. Grievances against the state’s 79 councils were stacked high at 3555 (up by...
Central Goldfields Shire Council attracted the highest rate of complaints the Victorian Ombudsman made enquiries about, according to their annual report for 2021-2022.
Grievances against the state’s 79 councils were stacked high at 3555 (up by three percent), out of which 32 were made towards the Central Goldfields Shire.
Translating to roughly one matter per 406 people in the region, the report said that 28 percent of complainants were advised to contact council directly.
However, the report added that enquiries were made for about 34 percent of the total complaints (about 11 cases) — making it the highest percentage of issues the Ombudsman’s office stepped in to resolve.
Central Goldfields Shire CEO Lucy Roffey said that often residents’ problems are related to matters beyond the organisation’s control.
“Not all complaints that go to the Ombudsman are referred to council, for example where the Ombudsman is able to provide information and advice to resolve an enquiry — complaints resolved directly by the Ombudsman are usually where a resident’s issue is a matter that should be responded to by a different level of government or department and outside council’s jurisdiction,” she said.
“Complaints are usually related to property, animal and issues with neighbouring properties with the resident concerned that council has not taken adequate steps to resolve an issue.
“[But], council often doesn’t have the power or jurisdiction to take the action that a resident is requesting.”
Providing necessary assistance in relation to the enquiries made, Ms Roffey said that council works with all concerned parties to reach a resolution.
“There are many cases where [we] provide all of the correspondence to the Ombudsman that was provided to the complainant and the Ombudsman confirms that the steps taken by [us] are reasonable and adequate and no further action is required,” she said.
“There are some issues that need to be resolved by other agencies.
“Further information is often provided to assist residents in understanding council’s jurisdiction and ability or inability to act on issues.”
Bordering Maryborough, the Pyrenees Shire Council also received a relatively high ratio of complaints — a total of 23 with 61 percent referred back to council and 22 percent requiring further enquiries.
“Council is not aware of the nature of all complaints received by the Ombudsman. It should be noted that the Ombudsman’s office directed complainants to take the matter up with council in the majority of the cases,” Pyrenees Shire Council CEO Jim Nolan said.
“Of the five complaints where the Ombudsman sought information from council, these matters related to roads, local laws, waste, private swimming pool compliance and land.
“In each case [we were] able to provide information that resolved the complaint to the Ombudsman’s satisfaction.”
Mr Nolan said that the local authority aimed to put its residents on the forefront when reaching a conclusion for relevant matters.
“Council welcomes feedback on our services and we are continuing to engage with our communities, which helps us to know if we are meeting the needs of the community and to adjust our services where we need to,” he said.
Across the board, the state’s Ombudsman dealt with 18,889 jurisdictional related issues, an increase of 4.6 percent compared to the previous year — 944 were related to COVID health measures.