Citizen Complaint Investigations
The Administrative Office investigates complaints asserting that a County department or employee is acting in a manner that is unfair, arbitrary, inconsistent, or contrary to law. Administrative Office staff will review your complaint to determine what actions, if any, can be taken to resolve the issue.
What is the process?
Report the complaint with a department
Before you submit a citizen complaint, please contact the appropriate department to resolve the issue.
File a complaint
If you have discussed your complaint with the department that specializes in the given area of expertise and are not satisfied with the department's response, please submit a complaint via the form below or download a PDF of the form and mail it to or drop it off at the Administrative Office. Please return the completed PDF complaint form to:
County of San Luis Obispo, Administrative Office
1055 Monterey Street, D430 San Luis Obispo CA 93408
NOTE: All complaints will be investigated by the Administrative Office and will be handled in a timely and courteous manner. Other County Departments will be contacted and involved in the investigation as needed. The Administrative Office or another county department may contact you to obtain more information, so please be sure to provide complete and accurate contact information. You may be contacted with information regarding the outcome of your complaint, including action taken by the County. In some cases, the County may be prohibited by law to provide full disclosure of the outcome. This complaint may be subject to a Public Records Request, pursuant to the California Public Records Act (Government Code 6250) and, therefore, confidentiality cannot be assured.
When and where is this service offered?
This service is available throughout the year during regular business hours except during scheduled holidays.
Location, directions and hours of operation
Click on location name to show hours of operation, directions and phone information
Monday - Friday 8-5
1055 Monterey Street D430
San Luis Obispo, CA 93408
Fax: (805) 781-5023
Tel: (805) 781-5011
FAQS
A citizen's complaint is defined as a written or verbal statement by a member of the public who objects to, criticizes, or expresses dissatisfaction with a County department, procedure or program, and requests some form of corrective action.
Confidentiality cannot be assured because the complaint may be subject to a Public Records Request, pursuant to the California Public Records Act (Government Code 6250).
If you submit a complaint to the Administrative Office, you will be contacted within 24 hours by someone from our staff. All complaints will be investigated by our office and will be handled in a timely and courteous manner. Other departments will be contacted and involved in the investigation, as needed. In some cases, the County may be prohibited by law to provide full disclosure of the outcome. However, you may be contacted with information regarding the outcome of your complaint, including action taken by the County.
Complaints do not have to be made in writing, but filling out our complaint form helps us to process your complaint in a timely manner and get all of the details in order. If you do not want to fill out a complaint form, but still want to file a complaint, you may call the County Administrative Office at (805) 781-5011.