Jul 18, 2014

Manitoba Ombudsman has posted five new Ombudsman Act investigation reports on its website.

"This group of reports includes our analysis and findings on a number of matters that would interest citizens, administrators and elected officials in any municipality across the province," said Acting Manitoba Ombudsman Mel Holley. "Issues such as the impact of road repairs on local businesses, the authorization of expenditures by council, the management of local improvement plans, and how conditional use applications are processed have broad interest. Also included in this grouping of reports is our review of how the City of Winnipeg provides property ownership information to interested parties - an issue where FIPPA also comes into play because of the personal nature of the information."

Ombudsman Act investigation reports can provide the public and organizations subject to The Ombudsman Act information about best practices in government administration.

The following five reports have been posted:

• City of Winnipeg (2013-0381): A case that might be of interest to many during the summer construction season looked at the impact of construction on one local business. We received a complaint that street work adjacent to a restaurant resulted in lost income when access to the premises was restricted and that construction and tree roots caused damage to a parking lot. The ombudsman could not conclude that the actions of the city or its contractor were unreasonable with respect to restricted access to the complainant’s restaurant and parking lot damage due to construction. The issue of damage from tree roots was not clearly communicated by the restaurant owner and the city agreed to further investigate this matter.

• Rural Municipality of De Salaberry (2013-0250): For the first time during a complaint investigation, Manitoba Ombudsman reviewed a municipality’s code of conduct for its elected officials and determined that an elected official breached that code. We received a complaint that a council member of the RM authorized a road repair expenditure without the authority to do so and that an elected official treated the complainant unfairly. While the ombudsman found that the road repair work was authorized by council as part of the municipality’s financial plan, the ombudsman agreed that the complainant was treated inappropriately by an elected official of the municipality.

• Rural Municipality of Alexander (2011-0555): Interested in protecting a shoreline from erosion? We received a complaint that the RM failed to properly manage a local improvement plan for construction of a shoreline protection barrier and did not adequately respond to the concerns of affected cottagers. Manitoba Ombudsman found that there was no evidence to conclude that any deficiencies in the supervision and management of the project led to the failure of the shoreline protection barrier. Administrative improvements were suggested to the municipality.

• Rural Municipality of St. Andrews (2013-0303):  Municipalities sometimes do not provide reasons for their decisions -- an issue of ongoing concern for Manitoba Ombudsman since a lack of reasons can leave residents affected by those decisions angry and frustrated. We received a complaint that a public hearing for a conditional use application to operate a dog kennel was procedurally unfair.  While the ombudsman did not find evidence that the public hearing was procedurally unfair, our investigation did identify that the absence of reasons for the decision of the RM to deny the conditional use application may have contributed to the complainant’s perception that he was treated unfairly.

• City of Winnipeg (2013-0185) – Why does the city provide names of real property owners at certain public access computers, but not to callers seeking the same information from the city’s 311 service? We received a complaint about that question. The ombudsman found that the practice of refusing to give out ownership information over the phone meets the legislated requirements of The Municipal Assessment Act and The City of Winnipeg Charter. The practice is also compliant with The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Municipal investigation reports under The Ombudsman Act are available at: http://www.ombudsman.mb.ca/documents_and_files/municipal-investigation-reports.html