The purpose of the complaints program is to protect the community against public health housing or nuisance conditions that could adversely affect the health and welfare of persons in the community. Some examples of nuisance and housing conditions may include improper storage of garbage; accumulation of animal wastes; rodents; sewage odors or presence of sewage on the ground; dilapidated living conditions and lack of heat in a residence.
A concerned citizen should take the following two steps before filing a formal complaint with Miami County Public Health:
- Ask yourself if the nuisance condition is health-related. The enforcement ability of the Huntington County Health Department is limited to conditions which threaten the public health. A condition may certainly be a nuisance to you, but it may not be a public health nuisance.
- Address your concerns to the offending party and try to work out a solution directly. If you are a tenant in a rental unit, address your concerns first with the landlord. If you attempt to resolve the problem in this way but are unsuccessful, then it may be appropriate to file a complaint.
A complaint must be submitted online or in writing before it can be investigated. Citizen complaints are not accepted over the telephone.
The complaint form should be filled out in full. Anonymous complaints are accepted.
If the complaint is a public health housing or nuisance complaint, the complaint will be investigated.
Investigation of Complaints
A complaint investigation is performed by a Public Health inspector and is usually initiated with an inspection of the property or facility within a reasonable time frame after notification. This is typically 7-10 business days unless an emergency inspection is deemed necessary by the health inspector.
The inspector will attempt to determine if the complaint is valid, or invalid. Such a determination will be based mainly on observations at the site. Hearsay is not evidence, but the inspector will consider information provided by the complainant and other parties. Once the inspector has gathered sufficient evidence and a determination has been made regarding the validity of the complaint, a complaint will be marked “valid” or “invalid” The complaint is invalid if there is no public health housing or nuisance condition and there are no violations of regulations, or applicable State laws. If a complaint is invalid, then it will be closed. A complaint will be marked “valid” if there is a public health nuisance condition or if there is a violation of Huntington County's junk health ordinance and regulations or applicable State laws. If a complaint is valid the inspector will determine the appropriate course of action required to abate the public health nuisance.
Some complaint resolutions take longer than others. Some complaints end up in a court of law, and others get resolved immediately upon request. Please allow us sufficient time to properly address the complaint.