Complaints and information requests to the Iowa Office of Ombudsman in fiscal year 2023 were the third highest in the history of the office, right behind 2022 and 2021.
The Ombudsman's FY 2023 statistics and a selection of its casework were released Friday as part of the office's annual report to legislators and the public. In total, Iowa's good-government office fielded 5,997 contacts in FY 2023 - a drop from the previous year, but still 48 percent more than in FY 2014. During that same period, complaints from inmates in Iowa's state prisons and county jails have more than doubled.
In light of the trends, Ombudsman Bernardo Granwehr said that the office "continues to be selective" about which cases it chooses to investigate "to have the biggest impact for the greatest number of Iowans." Granwehr also cited improvements in the office's communications with state agencies, local governments and the public, primarily through outreach efforts. Most notably, the office's website was upgraded to provide more resources to Iowans looking for information about government services and guidance on how to interact with the government.
The Ombudsman is a legislative agency that accepts complaints from citizens who believe a state or local government agency has acted unfairly, unreasonably, inefficiently, or contrary to law, rule, or policy. The Ombudsman has the authority to investigate complaints, but more often tries to resolve disagreements or misunderstandings informally and cooperatively. The office's 11 assistants are impartial and objective in their review of complaints.
The Ombudsman's 23-page report features a sampling of cases its staff investigated during the year, as well as discussions of several important issues, including:
* A change in foster care rules that could make it easier for relatives to get licensed as foster parents.
* Guidance on how to use new resources to access information on Medicaid benefits.
* A discovery that space constraints in state prisons have led to protective-custody housing stays beyond the time limits specified in policy
The new report and past reports can be found online at: https://ombudsman.iowa.gov/
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