Jul 18, 2014

[En anglais seulement] 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 (2013-0185) – complaint that the city's 311 service would not provide the identity of real property owners, even though this information is available at public access computers at designated city locations.
• City of Winnipeg (2013-0381) – 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.
• Rural Municipality of Alexander (2011-0555) – 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.
• Rural Municipality of De Salaberry (2013-0250) – 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.
• Rural Municipality of St. Andrews (2013-0303) – complaint that a public hearing for a conditional use application to operate a dog kennel was procedurally unfair.

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