Commissioners gear up for work at new Ombudsman’s Bureau

Nearly a year after the City of Laval announced the creation of an Ombudsman’s Bureau to deal with residents’ complaints about municipal departments and services, last week four members and two executives of the new office were introduced to local media.

Maintain impartiality
While the Ombudsman’s Bureau basically owes its existence to city council which passed a resolution to set it up in December last year, the bureau’s commissioners, as they are known, maintain they are completely impartial. The Ombudsman’s Bureau will be dealing only with problems involving departments and services and will have little or no contact with city council.
According to the city council resolution that was passed to create the Ombudsman’s Bureau, there can never be more than 12 members on the commission and each is appointed and approved in a vote by council. The commissioners’ mandate lasts from two to three years and a commissioner cannot serve more than two mandates.

Strict exclusions
According to the resolution, persons who are not allowed to be appointed to the Ombudsman’s Bureau include city councillors or political attachés to councillors, an “associate” of a member of city council, anyone who does business through a contract with the City of Laval or an organization overseen by the city, and anyone who might otherwise be in a conflict of interest.
The newly-appointed commissioners are all volunteers and aren’t remunerated for their efforts, although they are entitled to annual compensation for expenses. The president receives $3,000, the vice-president $2,100, and each commissioner receives $1,500. Once a year, by Aug. 31 at the latest, the Ombudsman’s Bureau will submit a written report to city council. It can also deliver special reports if circumstances warrant it. All reports become public after council has received them.

Isolated from council
While the Ombudsman’s Bureau has already started work on some cases, president Diane Lemelin noted that the bureau is not mandated to arbitrate anything that has to do directly with city council. “We are restricted to review any act that might be performed by municipal services,” said Lemelin, who is a lawyer with a private practice. In addition, the Ombudsman’s Bureau will not be dealing with conflicts involving the Laval Police Department or the Société de Transport de Laval, both of which have special procedures in place for dealing with complaints.

‘No interference’
Lemelin insisted the Ombudsman’s Bureau will be acting with complete independence from city council. “There is no interference from the council,” she said emphatically. “We are completely independent from the political side of the municipality, nor can we review their acts. So we are dedicated to reviewing any civil service act or omission or work, except for the exclusions.” The other commissioners with the Ombudsman’s Bureau also insist they’ve never had any previous political contact with members of city council.