An important program area that Environmental Health Services (EHS) provides is our Complaint  program.  We receive complaints about facilities that are regulated by EHS as well as general nuisance complaints. 

When we first receive a complaint, we evaluate the complaint to determine whether it is an area in which we have jurisdiction.  If we do not have jurisdiction, we refer the complaint to the appropriate agency or suggest to the complainant that they contact the appropriate agency.

For complaints that are in our jurisdiction, an official complaint form is completed.  The complaint form includes information on the name of the complainant, their address, and how they can be reached for further information.  It includes the name and/or address of the subject of the complaint as well as a detailed description of the nature of the complaint and the date/time that the alleged violation was observed. These complaints are assigned a number and are entered into the NYS Department of Health's tracking system.  The complaint is assigned to one of EHS's technical staff for investigation and follow-up. 

TO FILE A COMPLAINT:

To file a complaint, you can either:

(a) call EHS at 737-2019 to speak to one of the EHS staff, or
(b) fax the information to 737-0437, or
(c) e-mail the complaint to ngalpin@co.chemung.ny.us .

We do not require anyone to provide us with their name, but if we have a name and a way to get in touch with the complainant, it sometimes helps with the investigation.  We also have a policy of maintaining confidentiality of complainants.  So even if you do provide your name, we will keep it confidential unless ordered to release that information by the Court System.

Our policy is to begin the investigation into a complaint within 3 business days of receiving the complaint.  If the complaint is alleging a serious public health hazard, we will respond as soon as possible, but no more than 24 hours after receiving the complaint.