Your council. We're listening. Have your say

[Guest CyprusPluto]

Agree with others regarding a full referendum of the public about the windfarm

[JustMe]

One excellent step would be for councillors and council departments to actually reply when members of the public communicate with them. I have fairly recently written to councillor X about a fairly minor matter which now seems to have been resolved but I did not get so much as an acknowledgement from the councillor. At least I have power to do something about this........come election time I will be less likely to vote for X although not to the point of voting for someone I thought would make a worse councillor.

 

I also wrote to two different council departments concerning an administrative matter that, if not resolved, looked likely to cause me some problems in the future. Neither department had the good grace to acknowledge my letter and, several months later, I do not know if they have done what is needed to resolve the issue. That is not the way I expect a council to behave.

 

What I think would be good is for a sort of "one stop shop" where people with any sort of grievance could write either openly or anonymously if the wished in the knowledge that a reasonably senior person within the administration would at least view the complaint. Of course that same "one stop shop" could also be used for compliments.

[BigMouth]

I got fed up of acknowledgement letters, followed by a response a few days later. Save the postage by just sending the letter of reply, unless you envisage a huge wait for a reply to become available.

 

Now I rarely communicate, and if I do I do it electronically.

 

Thanks a lot for the online payment system. I know that it has been in place for a while now, but it really is a worthwhile system, saving me writing a cheque every month for my Rent / Poll Tax. It has always worked flawlessly up until now. I only wish that the form would "remember me".

[tlady]

Thanks a lot for the online payment system. I know that it has been in place for a while now, but it really is a worthwhile system, saving me writing a cheque every month for my Rent / Poll Tax. It has always worked flawlessly up until now. I only wish that the form would "remember me".

 

Its great to be able to pay the bairns dinner money online too .. no more scrambling for change on a fri morning.

[Medziotojas]

^sorry mods (more work), but a separate forum with threads therewithin may be a better option here?

[Medziotojas]

 

Its great to be able to pay the bairns dinner money online too .. no more scrambling for change on a fri morning.

 

Thanks for reminding me

[Fjool]

^sorry mods (more work), but a separate forum with threads therewithin may be a better option here?

This was discussed, but we decided that a single thread (on topic) about SIC communications was probably the best approach.

 

Time will tell; if the need arises and the thread grows too cumbersome, we'll revise the plan.

[Muppet]

I suspect a 'Council' thread will grow arms and legs very quickly. Shetlink itself was borne from an earlier council initiative of an online forum, i forget the name, but it was for a limited time only and soon after the plug was pulled, Shetlink appeared.

 

It was stated at the start that this thread was not about issues, but about the council communicating. It's already full of issues, so yes, a separate forum with threads is where I see it going, but lets not forget that we can't expect the Shetlink moderators to administer and host it free of charge. Cuts or no cuts, if the Council is serious about communicating with the electors of Shetland, here is the perfect way of doing it, but pay your way and/or moderate it yourselves.

[Njugle]

I suspect a 'Council' thread will grow arms and legs very quickly. Shetlink itself was borne from an earlier council initiative of an online forum, i forget the name, but it was for a limited time only and soon after the plug was pulled, Shetlink appeared.

 

Not quite how it happened. But not too far off.

[Colin]

I suspect a 'Council' thread will grow arms and legs very quickly. Shetlink itself was borne from an earlier council initiative of an online forum, i forget the name, but it was for a limited time only and soon after the plug was pulled, Shetlink appeared.

 

Yes, and it's worth remembering that one of the reasons the council's own forum was pulled because they didn't like getting panned by 'anonymous' posters and, more to the point, claimed that because the posters were anonymous, the complaints were not valid.

 

Better luck this time I hope...

[shetlandpeat]

I too have written/emailed the SIC about stuff, no reply.

 

As a comparison, the town council here have bent over backwards to reply to folk.

[SICcomms]

There are some specific, and very serious, issues raised here that require precise answers - especially those involving the council's complaints procedures - and we'll get on to that on Monday.

 

But can I just say again that is a thread about the way the council communicates, and is part of a wider consultation on how we can improve that. There are points coming up that can be covered in other Shetlink threads, and in some cases, already are being discussed.

 

Thanks again to everyone who's contributed so far.

[Graeme_Storey]

But can I just say again that is a thread about the way the council communicates, and is part of a wider consultation on how we can improve that.

Fair point. And that is what we are trying to consider too.

 

Communication is a two way procedure, and when some of us are asking for a referendum, fo instance, it is so that we can feel the two-way communication can be being effectively addressed.

 

Many people feel that the communication (BOTH ways) is not working properly.

 

So, as I said, fair point, but please remember that we (the public) need to feel we can effectively communicate our wishes and opinions to the Council too.

 

At the moment there is a great gulf in that communication procedure, especially from the public to the Council.

[unlinkedstudent]

I got fed up of acknowledgement letters, followed by a response a few days later. Save the postage by just sending the letter of reply, unless you envisage a huge wait for a reply to become available.

 

Now I rarely communicate, and if I do I do it electronically. ...

 

I may be wrong but the Scottish system is the same, if not similar, to the English System. The Ombudsman recommends that when a complaint is received, an acknowledgement letter is sent out to you outlining details as to when you will receive a reply, together with the contact details of the person dealing with it.

 

In many Councils in the first instance it will be an Officer within said Department. When they reply, they should state if you are not happy with the response, that the complaint can go to the next stage, which is usually the Head/Director of the Department or if the Council has one, a Complaints Officer/Complaints Investigation Officer (usually comes under the Chief Executive's Office) - it may well be that it is the Convenor in this case. If you are unhappy with their response, then it is usually the Ombudsman and their details should be outlined within the response.

 

It is usually regarded as a three stage process. Many Councils forget that Complainants do have the right for Stage 1 to be dealt with on the telephone/verbally if they so wish.

 

In complicated cases, it may take longer than anticipated to investigate a complaint and a letter should be sent to you advising you of the revised date you can expect a full response.

 

However, if, for example, you are complaining about the way perhaps an Officer of the Council has spoken to you, that individual Officer cannot investigate the complaint.

 

Social Services is usually slightly different due to guidelines.

 

One common error throughout the UK is that when Council staff respond to complainants, they don't answer all the points raised by the Complainant. When writing a complaint, it is good to either number or bullet point items - it is then a lot clearer.

 

Within the Council's response, they should indicate whether each item you have complained about is upheld/partially upheld/not upheld.

 

In essence, the Ombudsman expects if maladministration has occurred that the Complainant be put back in the same position they would be had the maladministration not occurred.

 

As I've said, I'm not 100% sure of the Scottish system but can recall from my conversations with the Scottish Ombudsman, the principles are pretty much the same.

[BigMouth]

Unpinned Student - that's what happens with autocorrect on!

 

Don't imagine everything is a complaint. Usually it isn't. It is a request for work on a property, or notification that a street light is not working. Some of us think that the majority of SIC do a really good job. I remember one particular department that seemed to be under the impression that they were doing you a favour by dealing with you. I soon pointed out that they were there to serve me and not the other way around!