During the March 10 meeting of the Town Council, a discussion took place regarding anonymous complaints, and how the Town Council should handle them.
The system was installed by Shaun Mulholland shortly after taking on the role as Town Manager. Residents who want to file a complaint are able to do so by providing their contact information or not.
“You may choose to remain anonymous or to have your contact information included. The Town will act on anonymous complaints according to its online Anonymous Hotline Policy online ; however, we may be limited in our ability to investigate those concerns depending upon the information provided,” the webpage for complaints states.
It was explained by Town Council Chair Ron Dunn, that he thinks they need to look at making adjustments to it. “Because it’s costing us a lot of legal money,” Dunn stated.
“If we’re going to keep it, it needs some kind of adjustment, some kind of fix because it’s costing us a lot of legal money. And I just wanted to see if we could discuss it as a Council,” he said.
Town Councilor Dan Bouchard said that when it was first instituted “there were some guidelines and some steps on what was going to happen when those came in.”
“Some of that has been followed it hasn’t been followed for every complaint,” he said. “So I have (a) problem with that.”
Bouchard said that he thinks the anonymous complaints can generally be handled without an attorney.
“But some people decide to spend money on attorneys,” he explained.
He added, “If a person cant put his name to it, we shouldn’t be spending money on it.”
Town Councilor Deb Paul said that if the complainant had backup documents, and is anonymous, it could be considered.
She also noted that it shouldn’t be considered, if there are no backup documents, and it doesn’t violate the Town Charter or Code of Ethics in any way.
Ultimately she said that she thinks it needs to be clear on how it will be handled for everyone.
Councilor Shaun Faber suggested removing the policy. He said, “I think its gotten way out of hand. I don’t think we’ve bearing any fruit from it. I think we should just remove it.”
Bouchard said he doesn’t think they should necessarily get rid of it, but it should be cleaned up and have procedures.
Mulholland corrected the council saying that this isn’t a council policy, it’s an administrative policy, and he has no intentions of getting rid of it.
“This is an opportunity to deal with corruption. Public can make any comments they wish to any complaints, and really it’s intended predominantly for staff. It’s rare that you get one in most places other than here about counselors,” Mulholland said. “It’s about dealing with corruption and usually paid employees that are involved in public corruption.”
He added, the way you (the council) handle the complaints is up to you.
Mulholland said when he gets a complaint involving the Town Council, he gives it to them saying “It’s out of my hands” explaining it’s up to the Town Council on how they want to handle it.
He said that the Town Council could look at creating its own policy regarding it.
The discussion is expected to continue at their next meeting.