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Commission hears concerns that city complaint form is hard to find online
Summary
A commissioner and a resident said the city's complaint form is buried on the website and suggested a prominent "Contact Us" link or surface link for forms; participants stressed the need for a uniform paper trail and retained complaint records to detect long-term patterns.
Several speakers raised transparency and accessibility concerns about the city's complaint process and how to find the online form.
"It took me a freaking hour to find it until I called Angela and asked her where in the heck is this," a resident said, describing five steps required to locate the complaint form on the Blue Lake website and urging that a surface link be added near "Contact Us." A website-committee member affirmed the problem and volunteered to speak with the web designer about adding a direct link for forms.
Commissioners and staff discussed alternatives: keeping paper forms available at city hall, accepting phone calls with staff logging complaints into a consistent tracking system, or creating web-fillable forms that submit directly to city staff. Commissioners emphasized that any accepted method must ensure a consistent paper trail so complaints can be tracked over time and patterns identified.
No policy change was adopted at the meeting; commissioners asked staff to explore website improvements, confirm whether in-person forms are available at the city counter, and report back with options for making the complaint process more transparent and easier to find.
