Toronto Ombudsman Fiona Crean tells city she needs to hire more staff

The ombudsman ensures Toronto’s public service carries out city policy by responding to complaints.

In the first seven months of 2014, there were 1,409 complaints, 60 per cent more than were filed during the same period in 2013.

The "vast majority" of complaints – which have most commonly concerned Toronto Community Housing, city bylaw enforcement staff and revenue-generating services such as water bills and parking tickets – are resolved without a formal investigation.

The ombudsman has done 32 full investigations over the years, however, and has had some 300 recommendations adopted by city council.

Crean’s report notes public servants increasingly use the office to seek advice and to mediate in disputes with the public.

It argued the ombudsman doesn’t have enough resources to inform the public of its services, and "the number of systemic problems left unexamined is increasing," particularly since council expanded its jurisdiction in May to include Toronto Hydro, and some of its other arms-length agencies.

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The increasing workload "is having a detrimental effect on staff morale and well-being," the review said, adding without enough funds to properly do its job, the independence of the ombudsman’s position "is meaningless."

Crean’s office has 11 staff members, four more than in 2009, and a budget this year of $1,636,000, but the review said the ombudsman needs six more staff, at a cost of $800,000, or a backlog of cases will develop.

Already, Crean – who had a staffer target the L’Amoreaux, Malvern, Rouge and Woburn neighbourhoods in Scarborough for a year to promote the office – said she is concerned that people in Scarborough, Etobicoke and North York aren’t as likely to lay complaints.

"The further away from public transit and the downtown core, the fewer number of people contact the office," said the review, suggesting this would change only when the office has more resources to promote "equitable access."

At least one councillor is worried the ombudsman’s own contract may be used as leverage against the office’s independence.

Mary-Margaret McMahon asked this week for a report on possible term limits – "one five or seven-year term that does not include the possibility of extension" – on the position, stressing this would apply to future ombudsmen, and not to Crean.

The Beaches-East York councillor’s request, approved by council’s executive committee Wednesday, Aug. 20, said a non-renewable contract would "ensure that the ombudsman is equally free to criticize councillors and the mayor," and noted the city’s current integrity commissioner and auditor general were hired on non-renewable contracts.

"I believe we can strengthen the independence of our accountability officers by removing city council’s authority to interfere with the length of their tenure," it said.