OPSA public initiative idea

 An idea I had for a public initiative to reform social service and government




 Office of Public Service Accountability (OPSA)

Replaces office of the ombudsman.

The purpose of OPSA is to process complaints from the public against non-elected public employees and hold said public servants accountable via finical leverage. OPSA is not intended to make someone whole or issue large judgments but to track and fine poor quality employees, while giving back some small tangible satisfaction to the complainant. By tangibly punishing poor stewardship, OPSA hopes to raise the bar of those who remain in public service so that it includes the best and the brightest once again.

The first step involves a member of the public filling out a complaint and being interviewed. There should be an OPSA office in each region. The complaints are filtered and the actionable ones are turned over to investigators. OPSA Investigators then set out to determine if the public employee, in actions directly involving the complainant, did or did not act in the highest levels of professional quality. Bad policy or “following orders” are not a defense. Public employees are encouraged to issue complaints against their supervisors in the case of “bad orders“. This is not an adversarial process and refusal to answer is considered a default. The OPSA is to have unfettered access to all records and documents. Upon completion of the investigation, OPSA turns over short report to a magistrate who issues the fine or voids the complaint.

If complaint is valid a small fine is issued against the public employee commensurate with their income. A portion of which goes to the complainant and the rest to pay for OPSA. The fine must be paid first before an appeal can be made and the defendant can not rely on public or government legal services for that appeal and is considered a regular private citizen for purposes of immunity. It is an OPSA violation to pay an OPSA fine for someone else or insure an against OPSA fines as that condones misconduct. OPSA may also determine whether public employee entitlements, paid leave, ect are appropriate if complained about. If excessive a fine of commensurate value may be incurred to encourage the public employee to surrender their excessive benefits.

All actionable OPSA complaints will be kept online in a public database for 2 years then wiped from the record.