Mount Isa City Council has voted to take a proposal for a $200 fee to raise complaints against public officials to the Local Government Association of Queensland conference in October.
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At its special meeting last Wednesday, Council voted 5-1 to support the proposal with Mayor Danielle Slade the only councillor not to support it (Cr Kim Coghlan was absent from the meeting).
It follows a debate into the matter in May which first looked at Council taking the complaint fee to the LGAQ.
The finalised Council report said they received complaints on many issues from many internal and external complainants with the majority in good faith, regarding valid matters.
"There are however, a small number of complainants who consistently make complaints to Council and oversight agencies such as the Crime and Corruption Commission, Office of the Independent Assessor and the Queensland Ombudsman," the Council report said.
"These complaints are mostly without merit and without any evidence or even relevant information, made with the intention to cause harm to an individual or to tie up Council resources both financial and in staffing."
Proposing the motion, which will not allow for anonymous complaints, Cr Mick Tully said Council had spent over $100,000 in recent months investigating unfounded complaints.
"It does take a lot of resources," Cr Tully said.
"Councillors put their hand up to do a job for the community and these frivolous unfounded complaints take a toll on people."
Cr Peta MacRae seconded the motion saying that if people had a justified complaint they should feel confident they will get their money back.
"If there is anything legitimately going wrong, there is still an avenue to complain," she said.
Cr George Fortune agreed saying councils were the most scrutinised level of government in Australia.
"If there is an honest complaint I don't think people would object to paying $200 for it to be heard," he said.
He also said existing complaint processes into issues such as potholes in the road or barking animals would not be impacted by this fee, and it applies only to complaints against public officials.
Cr Slade spoke against the motion saying the roles of councillor and mayor brought a lot of power.
"This power should go hand in hand with great scrutiny," Cr Slade said.
"I acknowledge there have been excessive complaints but it does take courage to whistleblow."
Cr Slade said she did not want people not to put in complaints against public officials such as herself just because they were "not financial".
According to the text of the motion, the $200 fee would be refunded if any of the allegations made in the complaint were substantiated otherwise the fee would be forfeited.
The motion will be debated at the LGAQ conference in Mackay on October 25-27.
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