The Township of North Huron discussed Ombudsmen complaints made against both members of council and staff during its regular council meeting on Monday.
Reeve Bernie Bailey mentioned one North Huron resident has filed 12 complaints to the Ombudsman. Out of those 12 complaints, only two were looked at by the Ombudsman, and an independent investigation concluded there is no wrongdoing on the part of North Huron.
Now, members of council have voted to examine avenues available to them to recoup tax dollars spent fighting these complaints, which amount of just over $13,000, a number Bailey claimed "could have been as high as $120,000."
Bailey said the same member is now taking North Huron to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice regarding an undisclosed matter, which he expects will see another legal bill that will require tax dollars to pay for.
"An option is now open that we can recoup from the person that did the complaining the amount that has been spent by the town, and the legal costs that will be needed to collect that," said Bailey after Monday's meeting. "We have not made that decision yet, but if this continues, we cannot continue throw hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money away just because some guy keeps complaining, complaining, complaining, instead of just simply coming and talking to us."
Bailey said the decision was made to discuss the issue in open council "to let everybody know that it's not free. When they're going to the Ombudsman, it is actually costing them their tax dollars, so we wanted to bring that out and let the public know that."
Deputy Reeve Trevor Seip stressed that he does not want to discourage citizens from filing complaints against council.
"I expect someone with issues to go through the proper channels," he said.
Seip added that he wants council to "have an understanding of what is considered a frivolous complaint, and how that is determined. That needs to be clear... needs to be on a case-by-case basis."
The two complaints investigated by the Ombudsman are contained within the North Huron Council minutes. One deals with the interruption of a citizen by Reeve Bernie Bailey on January 8, while the other was received the following day, pertaining to "allegedly forged bylaws." An independent investigation concluded there is no wrongdoing on the part of the Township of North Huron, members of council or staff.
