Complaint Policy

 1.1         The Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury aims to deliver exceptional, equitable, and accessible customer service. If customers are dissatisfied with the service they receive, the Town wants to make it easy for them to make a complaint.  Once a complaint has been made, customers should know what to expect. Offering the public opportunities to escalate concerns reinforces commitments to excellent service delivery.

1.2         The purpose of this policy is to outline the underlying principles for the disposition of complaints related to services delivered by the Town. This policy outlines how the Town will manage complaints efficiently, fairly, effectively and uniformly across all Town Divisions while being respectful to all parties involved.

2.2         This Policy applies to Complaints regarding municipal services, including programs and facilities, staff, any act, decision or recommendation made or omitted in the course of the administration of the Town, except as specifically excluded in this Policy. The following are examples of Complaints covered by this Policy:

        a)    Concern that a matter was not completed or carried out in accordance with Town policies or
               standards;

        b)    Receiving poor customer service;

        c)    The timeliness through which a service was provided; or

        d)    The quality of a service provided.

2.3      A Complaint is distinct from:

        a)    A request for service made on behalf of a resident for a specific service, including complaints for
               by-law enforcement, or to notify the Town that a scheduled service was not provided;

        b)    A general inquiry or specific request for information regarding a municipal service;

        c)    An opinion, customer service feedback, comment or expression of interest in a program or
               service;

        d)    A request for accommodation or feedback in accordance with the Ontario Human Rights Code or
               AODA;

        e)    An expression of approval or compliment for a municipal staff member, program, product or
               process, and

        f)     A suggestion or idea submitted by a customer with the purpose of improving a service, program,
               product or process.

2.4         The following Complaints will not be accepted or investigated in accordance with this Policy:

        a)    A frivolous or vexatious complaint;

        b)    Anonymous complaints

        c)    Complaints regarding a decision or recommendation of Council or a Committee of Council;

        d)    Complaints against a Member of Council, Advisory Committee or Board for matters subject to a
               Code of Conduct approved by Council (subject to review by the Town’s appointed Integrity
               Commissioner);

        e)    Complaints regarding whether a meeting of Council was properly held in accordance with the
               Municipal Act (subject to review by the Town’s appointed Closed Meeting Investigator);

        f)     Complaints which involve ongoing litigation with the Town;

        g)    Any decision, recommendation, act or omission of any person acting as a legal adviser to the
               Town or acting as counsel to them in relation to any proceedings;

        h)    The outcome of an insurance claim processed by the Town or the Town’s insurer;

        i)     Matters pertaining to an outside board or agency, including the Bradford West Gwillimbury Library
               Board, South Simcoe Police Services Board, Holland Marsh Drainage System Joint Municipal
               Service Board.

        j)     Any decision, recommendation, act or omission by the Town, in respect of which there is, under
               any Act, a right of appeal or objection, or a right to apply for a hearing or review on the merits of
               the case to any court, or to any tribunal constituted by or under any Act.

        k)    By staff, alternate procedures are available to initiate complaints within the organization. 

        a)    Accessibility– This Policy and any procedures are easy to understand and accessible to the
               public. 

        b)    Accountability – This Policy and any procedures are well understood by staff and includes routine
               monitoring of complaints by senior management to address matters resulting from repeated
               complaints.

        c)    Confidence – The public has confidence in the reliability of the process.

        d)    Confidentiality – Complaints remain confidential in accordance with applicable policies and the
               Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

        e)    Effectiveness – Staff address issues within their authority and capacity.  The public are advised of
               options to resolve the Complaint. 

        f)     Consistency – The process is standardized and follows the same sequence of events for each
                Complaint.

        g)    Flexibility – Staff have the discretion to adjust and adapt their response based on the nature of
               the Complaint.  

        h)    Fairness – The process aims to seek resolutions to Complaints in a reasonable and equitable
               manner free from political interference.

        i)     Impartiality – The process is impartial and filing Complaints will not adversely affect the quality
               of future municipal services delivered to Complainants.

        j)     Timely – Complaints are acknowledged and responded to within a reasonable timeframe that is
               communicated to the Complainant.  

3.2      In order to come to a resolution that satisfies the Complainant, Complaints will escalate through the following stages:

        a)    Initial contact with frontline staff – at this stage staff will endeavour to seek early resolution to
               the Complaint.

        b)    Supervisor, Manager or Director Review - at this stage the Complaint will be referred to the
               Supervisor, Manager or Director of the division responsible for providing the service.

        c)    Formal Complaint – at this stage the Complaint will be formally submitted to the Town when early
               resolution could not be successfully achieved.

3.3      The decision issued as part of the Formal Complaint is final and there is no further appeal at the municipal level. If the Complainant is not satisfied with the Town’s response to their complaint, they may contact the Ontario Ombudsman.

Compliance, monitoring and review

4.1      All Town staff understand how complaints are managed by the Town and participate in the process in accordance with developed procedures.

4.2      All supervisors, managers and directors will comply with the policy, notify their staff of the policy and arrange for training as necessary.

4.3      Senior management is responsible for monitoring and evaluating the complaint handling procedures and conducting periodic reviews to identify areas for improvement.

4.4      The Clerk is responsible for developing and implementing procedures to outline the required actions by staff and Complainants to facilitate a process consistent with the principles outlined in Section 3.1.

Reporting

4.5      Complaint records are captured for regular review and analysis to capture recurring issues and improve customer service and satisfaction.  Periodically the number of complaints, types of complaints, number of resolved complaints, etc. will be reported to Council.

Records Management

4.6      Staff will maintain all records relevant to administering this policy in a recognized Town recordkeeping system and in accordance with Town Records Management policies and procedures.

Terms and definitions

 Clerk: means the individual appointed by the Town as Clerk, or their designate.

Complainant: A person who is submitting a Complaint. Anyone who uses or is affected by Town services can make a Complaint. 

Complaint: A Complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction related to a Town program, service, or staff member, where a customer believes that the Town or its staff has not provided a service experience to the customer’s satisfaction at the point of service delivery and a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected.

Compliment: An expression of appreciation or approval for a Town service, staff member, program, product or process.

Designate: means the senior manager assigned to manage the investigation and issue a decision relating to a Formal Complaint.

Director: An officer or employee of the Town appointed by the Chief Administrative Officer or Council, as required, to oversee a department, or a person appointed or designated to act in place of the Director when the Director is absent or is unable to act.

Feedback: An opinion, comment and expression of interest in a Town program or service by a customer.

Formal Complaint: A written Complaint submitted on a form prescribed by the Clerk.

Frivolous or Vexatious Complaint: A Complaint that is initiated with malicious intent or is part of a pattern of conduct by the Complainant that amounts to an abuse of the Complaint process.

Inquiry: A request for services or information relating to Town programs, facilities, services, and operation procedures.

Investigation: – A process by which a situation is examined in detail to determine the events and actions that have occurred.

Ombudsman: The individual designated and appointed by the Town as an ombudsman in accordance with the Municipal Act, or an Ombudsman having jurisdiction in accordance with the Ombudsman Act.

Request for service: A request made to the Town for a specific service or to notify the Town that a service was not provided on time. Examples include:

• Requesting that the Town repair a street surface;
• Reporting a by-law infraction; or
• Reporting a burnt out street light.

 Suggestion: An idea submitted to the Town by a customer with the air of improving services, programs, products or processes.

• Public Complaints Procedure          
• Public Complaint Form (Public Use)
• Customer Service Policy
• Council Code of Conduct
• Employee Code of Behaviour (HR-07-002)
• Code of Conduct for Building Officials (HR-07-004)
• Accessibility Feedback Policy and Form