The City of Greater Sudbury has drafted a policy aimed at dealing with “frivolous and vexatious” complaints.
“A small number of unreasonable complainants consume a disproportionate amount of resources,” according to a report by city communications and community engagement director Marie Litalien regarding the city’s newly drafted Frivolous and Vexatious Complaints Policy.
The policy, which has been tabled for the Oct. 10 city council meeting, would place various potential restrictions on those who submit complaints deemed unreasonable.
“The policy is intended to be applied as a last resort, when all other attempts to resolve the issues or behaviour have been unsuccessful,” according to Litalien’s report.
City bylaw manager Stefany Mussen mentioned the policy in conversation with Sudbury.com this summer, when discussing what some people have called “Hedgegate.”
Earlier this year, 111 complaints related to the height of hedges were submitted to the city, including a “high volume” in Valley East, Mussen said at the time.
She declined to comment on how many of these complaints came from one person, but former Ward 5 Coun. Robert Kirwan said a bylaw officer told him that one person had filed most of them.
“Apparently, some person was told that he/she had to cut down their hedges because they were non-compliant,” Kirwan said. “So, he/she started driving from street to street writing down addresses of every property with hedges, filing individual complaints about the hedges being too high.”
Without a Frivolous and Vexatious Complaints Policy in place, Mussen said city staff were required to follow up on every complaint they receive, triaging them to prioritize safety issues.
The city’s Frivolous and Vexatious Complaints Policy is ambiguous enough to deal with a situation such as Hedgegate, and would allow the city to leave complaints unacknowledged.
“There is no rigid test or criteria in deciding whether a complaint is unreasonable, frivolous or vexatious,” according to the policy. “When determining whether a complaint falls under this policy, staff should consider whether the request is likely to cause distress, disruption or irritation, and whether it is without proper or justified cause.”
Although it offers a long list of behaviours deemed to be unreasonable, and some examples of frivolous or vexatious complaints, the policy notes that neither is exhaustive.
“A complaint is frivolous when it is trivial in nature or does not have a proper or justified cause,” according to the policy. “A complaint is vexatious when it is perceived to be pursued in a manner that is malicious, intended to embarrass or harass the recipient, or intended to be a nuisance.”
The example which could apply to Hedgegate is, “Prolonged submission of obsessive requests with high volume and frequency of correspondence, to one or more city staff members, through one or more customer service channels.”
If deemed frivolous or vexatious, or if the complaintant’s behaviour is considered unreasonable, the policy allows city staff to cut their access to city services to varying degrees, such as limiting access to staff and declining to acknowledge their complaints/requests.
The city’s Frivolous and Vexatious Complaints Policy is on the agenda for the Oct. 10 city council meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. The meeting can be viewed in-person at Tom Davies Square or livestreamed by clicking here.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
