Davison said some members of the public have not been dealing with complaints in a reasonable fashion.
“They get super aggressive with employees. They don’t phone to have a discussion. They call and start screaming. It’s not everybody for sure, but it’s bad. They will yell at the guys on the street,” he continued, “stop the grader operators. They are abusive and entitled.”
Davison said the issues are all over the map. People have complaints about potholes, the grading of roads, pretty much anything. It is not one thing, but whatever the individual involved has an issue with that day. It is impacting office staff, urban and rural maintenance staff, however.
“I don’t care what work you’re in, you shouldn’t have to put up with that,” the mayor stated. “This is a civic workplace, and these people are paid by the ratepayers’ taxes. But that doesn’t give people the right to abuse our employees. I know it’s not unique to us, it’s happening everywhere. It’s just bizarre.”
Davison added there were a couple of instances in the Souris-Glenwood office that were quite bad, and one in particular that was caught on the security camera of someone becoming very aggressive with staff. Unfortunately, there was no sound on the recording, so it is difficult to verify what was said, but there was finger pointing and apparently swearing and name calling of employees.
“Our staff shouldn’t have to put up with that. It’s crazy.”
Davison said he is not sure why people are having these attitudes and behaviours. There are stressors for sure, with rising costs making life difficult, but this is not an excuse. There is also the impact of social media. People can hide behind their computers and say whatever crosses their mind whatever way they want. It might be crossing over into the real world.
“I honestly think social media is the new coffee shop. You rarely hear anything positive from ‘keyboard warriors’, and they often spread the wrong information.”
Davison added council members also get rough phone calls. With another municipal election coming in about a year, does he feel this would impact whether or not councillors will run again?
“I don’t think this will affect us,” he explained. “Last time, we were lucky because we actually had elections for positions, which was great. People are busy these days and it’s hard to find the time for council. None of us had any illusions, we’re not naïve. We knew it was not all going to be accolades.”
As for the changes being made because of the employee issue, there are several planned. For one, the cameras in the office will have audio so they can record what people say. They will be setting it up so all phone calls can be recorded. A visible barrier will be set up so the public cannot simply barge in. Staff will be recording meetings with the public.
An important one is that meetings with staff will be by appointment only. As well as giving people an opportunity to cool down a little, if they choose to take it, it also will make everything more efficient. Davison said staff would not have to interrupt important tasks at a moment’s notice, and will be able to find out what the concern is ahead of time, and be better able to address it. Right now, they are still investigating the scope of what they want to do, and getting some ballpark figures. Davison stressed it is not all members of the public who are doing this, but added it can be surprising who it is. The number one issue is protecting public servants.
“No one in any vocation should have to put up with this,” he said. “Council is on the same page about this. We all are tired of this. We have a fantastic staff and we want to do what we can to keep them. I don’t understand it. I don’t understand why people are so agitated.”
by PAUL RAYNER
Recorder staff