Municipal Ombudsman

The municipal ombudsman

On May 30, 2024, the council of West Maas en Waal reappointed Ms. M.J. van Dasselaar as municipal ombudsman, effective from January 1, 2025, until December 31, 2030.

Additional positions held by M.J. van Dasselaar, Esq.

On May 30, 2024, the council of West Maas en Waal appointed Ms. L.B.F.M. Hellwig as deputy municipal ombudsman, effective from January 1, 2025, until December 31, 2030.

Additional positions held by L.B.F.M. Hellwig, Esq.

Procedures and information regarding the municipal ombudsman

The law stipulates that, in principle, a complaint must first be filed with the municipality. You can find information on how the municipality handles complaints filed with it on the page “Complaints about municipal actions.”
If you are not satisfied with the way the municipality has handled your complaint, you can submit a request to the Municipal Ombudsman to have your complaint reviewed for a final decision.

Contact the municipal ombudsman

You can address your request to the municipal ombudsman, but please send the letter to City Hall. The municipal complaints coordinator will then ensure that the letter is forwarded to the ombudsman. The address is:

Municipal Ombudsman, c/o the Complaints Coordinator
Postbus
6658 ZG Beneden-Leeuwen

If you prefer, you can also contact the ombudsman by email at degemeentelijkeombudsman@gmail.com

Task

The ombudsman’s role is to help foster good relations between the municipality and its residents by:

• Additional legal protection. The ombudsman provides this protection by issuing a ruling on the municipality’s conduct. This protection is supplementary because citizens already have a legal right to file a complaint with the municipality, and, furthermore, the general rule is that citizens must first submit their complaint to the municipality before the ombudsman can address it. The ombudsman’s ruling is binding on both the complainant and the municipality.
• Mediation. In this process, no full investigation leading to a final decision is conducted; instead, the ombudsman attempts to resolve the dispute between the administration and the citizen through consultation. In special cases, the ombudsman may also intervene during the internal complaint-handling phase.
• Prevention. The ombudsman may issue a recommendation to the municipality regarding future municipal actions, or initiate an investigation into misconduct on his or her own initiative.

Standards Applied

When assessing a complaint, the ombudsman evaluates the municipality’s actions against a set of standards for proper conduct. These standards of proper conduct were developed by the National Ombudsman and are applied by virtually all ombudsmen in the Netherlands. The standards of proper conduct are based on four core values governing the municipality’s actions. The municipality’s actions must be:

• open and clear
• respectful
• committed and solution-oriented
• honest and reliable

The core value “open and clear” encompasses the requirements of transparency, providing accurate information, listening to citizens, and justifying decisions and actions. The core value “respectful” encompasses the requirements of respecting fundamental rights, promoting active citizen participation, treating people with decency, fair play, proportionality, and special care. The core value “engaged and solution-oriented” includes the requirements of tailored approaches, collaboration, flexibility, decisiveness, and de-escalation. The core value “honest and reliable” includes the requirements of acting with integrity and reliability, impartiality, reasonableness, thorough preparation of decisions, good organization, and professionalism.

Admissible request

The ombudsman will first determine whether the request meets the legal requirements. The request must:

• have been signed
• include a name and address
• include a description of the conduct or acts that are the subject of the complaint
• indicate how the municipality itself assessed the complaint

The ombudsman must then determine whether or not he has the authority to rule on the complaint. In some cases, the ombudsman does not have the authority to do so, and in other cases, he is not required to investigate a complaint.

The ombudsman does not have jurisdiction, among other things, if the complaint concerns general municipal policy or a generally binding regulation. The ombudsman also does not have jurisdiction if an administrative court has already ruled on the conduct that is the subject of the complaint, or if proceedings regarding that conduct are pending before another court.

The ombudsman is not required to act if, among other things, a formal objection can be or could have been filed against the conduct in question. Furthermore, the ombudsman is not required to handle the complaint if it is not submitted within one year of the municipal resolution. Please note that while the ombudsman is not required to act in such cases, he or she remains authorized to handle the complaint.

The investigation by the municipal ombudsman

If the ombudsman decides to investigate the complaint, he will first seek to clarify all relevant facts. The ombudsman will give the complainant the opportunity to provide an oral explanation. The ombudsman will also request information from the municipality.

The ombudsman will request documents from the municipality or conduct his own review of the case file. The ombudsman may schedule a meeting attended by both the complainant and a representative of the municipality. Once the facts are clear to the ombudsman, a report of findings will be prepared. The complainant and the municipality may respond to this report. The ombudsman will incorporate these responses as necessary. The next step involves the ombudsman weighing the facts against the aforementioned due process requirements. The question then is whether the municipal conduct that is the subject of the complaint is in violation of those requirements.

The ombudsman will set forth his decision in a ruling. This ruling will be communicated to the complainant and the municipality. The ombudsman will also issue a public version of this ruling. The public version is anonymous, meaning that no names are mentioned in it.

The Children's Ombudsman

All children have rights. For example, the right to protection from neglect or abuse. Or the right to a good education and freedom of expression.

Do you believe an organization is not respecting children’s rights? If so, please contact the Children’s Ombudsman. The Children’s Ombudsman monitors whether government agencies—as well as schools, youth services, and healthcare facilities, for example—are treating children fairly. The Children’s Ombudsman is specifically there to help children between the ages of 0 and 18.

For more information, please visit the Children’s Ombudsman’s website