Ombudsman Office

One thing that I’ve taken away from this past Covid year is how our strengths as a County have really shown through. I think it has also been advantageous in showing us where we can improve.  I believe the most evident area is that of creating better, more open lines of communication between public, commissioners, staff and other elected officials. So I will be making the following proposal at our Strategic Planning on May 13.

Ombudsman Office 

Ottawa County currently has a lean, well run operation at the top. However, as Covid has shown, that leanness comes with the price of stretching County resources at critical moments. Going forward, it does seem that the public’s expectations of their County government will only increase, and I believe the County needs to have additional resources and capacity to handle that. 

In response to that, I’d like to propose a new office with capacity to liaison with all the different elements of Ottawa County, including residents, staff, administration and elected officials. The office would be both a front-facing unit responsible for communicating County government priorities and positions with the public as well as receiving and processing resident input. It will also work to help resolve differences both internally in the workplace and external service delivery with Ottawa County residents. The office will foster a positive environment with conflict resolution and problem-solving related to their working and service provision experiences.

The office will be specifically tasked with:

• Creating new resources and folding in our existing Communications and PR efforts, together with Commissioner staff into a new Department that will increase Ottawa’s ability to be responsive to residents, staff, administration and elected official.

• Creating new capacity for advocacy and resolution will enable the County to increase its efforts to make sure everyone feels heard and listened to.