New York village no longer accepting email and phone complaints after being inundated online

ISLANDIA, N.Y. (AP) — Have a complaint about potholes or trash? Take it up at village hall. Just don’t email. Or call.

A village in the New York City suburbs is no longer allowing people to make complaints electronically after town officials say they’ve been besieged by online grievances that have turned out to be unfounded.

Islandia on Long Island now requires complaints be submitted in-person at the village’s government offices.

The policy, which was adopted last month, even prevents residents from using its online portal for complaints, though a village spokesperson told Newsday it will also accept complaints sent via certified or registered mail.

Mayor Allan Dorman has said the policy was necessary after the village, located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Manhattan, was inundated by complaints by email and through its online portal.

He and other village officials say they’ve tried to block problem accounts and even tried to launch a new online complaint portal but continued to get spammed by anonymous users.

“It’s just harassment,” Dorman complained at an Oct. 21 meeting in which the policy was adopted by the village board of trustees, Newsday reported. “Every time you check out the complaint, it doesn’t pan out. So, you’re just wasting the resources in the village office (and) taking people away from their jobs.”

Village spokesperson John Zaher said Friday that the “orchestrated campaign” of hundreds of “bogus complaints” from anonymous email addresses began in January.

“We believe the spam emails are from one or two individuals who have an axe to grind with the Village,” he said in a statement. “This effort was designed to harass the Village Administration and its residents, requiring the use of government resources, including those of code enforcement and public safety in attempts to investigate these complaints.”

Zaher said the village is taking down the website complaint system. Residents who file a complaint in person do not have to provide contact information and will instead be given a control number to follow up on it anonymously.

Another Long Island community, Patchogue, also recently changed its policy to allow only in-person complaints or those submitted through registered or certified mail, according to Newsday.