Urban Ombudsman and Community Expectations Structure in Lexington, Kentucky

• NCJ Number: 95154
• Author(s): M K Mohapatra
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 89 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
• Corporate Author: Southern Education Foundation
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This case study of an ombudsman system in Lexington, Ky., found that while community leaders expressed overwhelming support for the ombudsman office, they also considerably underused its complaint handling services.

Abstract

The Citizens' Advocate Office in Lexington is unusual in that it was mandated by the State legislature in the Urban County Charter for Lexington-Fayette County in 1975. Two persons have served as the citizens' advocate, a black man with strong ties to the black community and a white woman with pervasive knowledge of State and city politics. This case study used interviews with both individuals; a review of the office's documents and the literature; and a survey of 89 Urban County Council members, urban administrators, and officials for neighborhood organizations. The Citizens' Advocate Office, in its five annual reports, described three types of complaints: those relating to the absence or quality of city services; those about neighborhood residents' behavior or neglect; and those about private, voluntary, and other nonmunicipal agencies. The three groups of respondents agreed on some issues, such as the need to increase public awareness of the ombudsman and that the citizens' advocate should operate a politically neutral office. They differed sharply, however, on many other issues, including the agency's impact, its responsiveness to neighborhood groups and the business community, and the need for a higher budget. The study also revealed that the attributes of the citizens' advocate are likely to influence his or her relationship with the city council. The first ombudsman appeared more sensitive to the needs of the black urban poor but angered some council members by taking grievances directly to the media, while the second officeholder appeared more concerned with middle-class whites. This research and other comparable studies suggest that the ombudsman structure has yet to be institutionalized in American political culture. Tables, references, the survey questionnaries, and materials from the Citizens' Advocate Office are supplied.