RON DAVIS -- Through My Eyes

More than a year ago, I wrote a column suggesting that cities, and in

particular Huntington Beach, consider hiring an ombudsman. Contrary to

popular belief, an ombudsman is not a guy from the country of Ombuds, but

a person employed to investigate and resolve resident complaints against

a governmental entity.

I’m not a guy who supports hiring more people in government unless I

think the need is clear and that there is a clear benefit to the

residents of a community.

I am prompted to write about this again as a result of a conversation

with a colleague. My friend, a resident of Huntington Beach, was in the

process of having his driveway recemented. Obviously, while that process

was taking place, he was incapable of driving cars in and out of the

garage or parking them on his driveway.

When the process of construction was well underway, he realized his

construction was occurring during street sweeping. Being the owner of

three cars and not wanting to receive $32 tickets for parking on the

street, he did exactly what he should have -- he called the city to find

out about a temporary exemption.

First, he was directed to the wrong person. This employee was more

concerned about the nature of the construction than the specific problem

he called about. After this call, he received a call from the city asking

about the construction and whether he had secured the appropriate

permits. That’ll teach him to call the city to resolve a problem.

Soon he found his way to someone in public works. After some discussion,

he was told he could get an exemption for $50 -- as in $50 to avoid a $32

ticket.

I’m sure that at the conclusion of the conversation, the employee merely

hung up the phone and went about his or her business.

I’m also sure my friend is not alone, and that there are a myriad of

resident problems and issues that need to be addressed and reoccur.

I support an ombudsman who would not only investigate the problem and

attempt to find a solution, but who would propose exemptions and changes

to city laws and policies to the City Council that would better

accommodate the residents of this community.

As an example, would it be a big deal if, under the circumstances, we

allowed the automobile owner one free exemption per year per auto,

provided they secured the exemption before the street sweeping? Certainly

City Hall wouldn’t be overrun by people asking for these exemptions,

given that they would have to go to City Hall to get them.

A centralized person whose sole responsibility is to deal with resident

complaints -- not to just field them, but to do something about the

specific complaint and to propose changes in policies and laws so that we

don’t create problems for someone else down the road -- seems to make

sense to me.

I know that function is supposed to be served by the City Council, but I

think that it’s often too much to expect residents to make several

exasperating phone calls to City Hall to be told that there’s nothing

that can be done, and then expect them to get a hold of a council member

who has the time and inclination to do something about what appears to be

a small problem compared to the other issues confronting the official.

As I said, to me it just makes good sense to have an ombudsman. But

that’s probably why we won’t have one.

* RON DAVIS is a private attorney who lives in Huntington Beach. He can

be reached by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .