Municipalities

Amendments to the Municipal Government Act and the Ombudsman Act grant the Alberta Ombudsman authority to investigate the administrative fairness of certain decisions by municipalities. As a result, the Ombudsman is able to review matters where final or non-appealable administrative decisions were made by a municipality on or after April 1, 2018.

The Ombudsman investigates matters of administration, and not political decisions of elected officials.

To raise concerns about a municipality, you may wish to start by contacting the relevant department for information, if applicable (i.e., 311, planning and development, public works, etc.).

In order to escalate your concerns further, you may wish to write to the administrative head of the municipality and request a written response. The administrative head of a municipality is the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), though they may be referred to by another title such as City Manager, Town Manager, Administrator, etc.

You can learn more about our office’s role in relation to municipality complaints, here: Ombudsman Municipal Resources.

You can learn more about municipal governance, here: https://www.alberta.ca/municipal-government.

Already have a final decision or response?

If you have tried to escalate your concerns or complete this organization’s complaint process and want to make a formal complaint to us, you can make a complaint to our office by writing to us:
Make a Complaint

Not Sure? Contact Us!

Please contact us directly if you’re still not sure what your next steps are.

Need Assistance?

Do you need advocacy, support or legal advice? Click here for a list of links to organizations which may be able to help.

These links are provided for your information and convenience. The Alberta Ombudsman’s office does not assume any responsibility for the content of external websites.