Under certain circumstances, a local government Chief Executive Officer (CEO) may determine that the local government will no longer communicate with a complainant regarding a specific complaint or category of complaints.
This decision may be made if:
- the local government has previously responded to the complainant about the same issue; or
- the complaint is assessed as vexatious, misconceived, frivolous, or lacking substance.
In either case, the CEO must be satisfied that continuing to respond would divert an unreasonable proportion of the local government’s resources from its other operations.
The decision to restrict communication cannot be applied to a council member or a committee member.
Issuing a notice of restricted communication
If a CEO decides to restrict communication, they must issue a formal notice to the complainant using a letter template approved by the Local Government Inspector. The notice must include:
- the decision to restrict communication
- the subject matter or category of subject matter to which the decision applies
- the duration of the restriction (not exceeding 12 months from the date of the notice)
- a summary of the local government’s previous response to the complainant (if applicable)
- the reasons why the complaint is considered vexatious, misconceived, frivolous, or without substance (if applicable)
- reasons why responding would unreasonably impact the local government’s operations
- information on how the complainant can lodge a complaint with the Inspector regarding the CEO’s decision.
Please use the following approved letter template:
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