The Municipal District of Lesser Slave River is drafting a new public complaints policy to create a consistent, tiered system for handling resident grievances.
During the July 29 Committee of the Whole meeting, administration presented the draft policy, which aims to ensure all complaints are received, assessed, and resolved in a timely manner. The goal is to encourage residents to deal directly with frontline municipal staff first, rather than calling their local councillor to fix operational problems like a pothole or a dusty road.
The chief administrative officer (CAO) noted that a standardized tracking system is crucial for finding trends in the community. As an example, he said the M.D. recently received 32 complaints about local dust control. Logging those complaints properly allows administration to see the bigger picture and allocate resources where they are needed most.
“That information can be used strategically to improve programming,” the CAO said.
However, the new tiered system sparked a debate about councillor boundaries. Some on council worried the policy might look like they are trying to put up a wall between elected officials and the public.
One councillor noted that residents will always approach them with issues, especially out in rural farming areas. He requested that the M.D. create physical paper forms that councillors can carry in their trucks to hand out to people.
“If I go meet with someone on the side of the road to look at a culvert, there’s not going to be Wi-Fi service to pull up a website,” the councillor said, adding that a physical form ensures the resident’s complaint still goes through the proper administrative channels.
The CAO agreed, clarifying that the policy is not meant to stop the public from talking to their elected officials. Instead, it is designed to create fairness. He noted that residents should not feel that complaining directly to a politician will expedite their request or get them a better level of service than someone who follows the standard process.
To make the system work, the council agreed they need to educate the public on how to properly file a service request through the municipal website or at the front office desk.
Another major point of discussion was how to handle residents who take their frustrations too far. The original draft of the policy included a section on handling “vexatious” complaints—which happens when a resident becomes unreasonably persistent, harassing, or abusive toward municipal staff.
The CAO specifically asked the council to remove that section from the document. He argued that severe harassment needs to be handled under a separate Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) policy to legally protect the workers.
Furthermore, he warned that combining a standard public complaint form with a vexatious behavior clause could accidentally be weaponized by staff to avoid dealing with difficult issues.
“I do not want it tied to a simple complaint form,” the CAO said. “Because somebody can complain about a service and the administration could say they’re being vexatious, we shouldn’t have to deal with this, when maybe we’re just not doing our job well.”
He added that legitimate complaints from frustrated residents need to be heard and managed, while true workplace harassment must be dealt with through a strict, independent safety procedure.
Council agreed with the changes. They unanimously passed a motion to remove the vexatious clauses from the draft and bring the revised public complaints policy to the next regular council meeting for official approval.
Armaan Khanna
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter