Basildon Council has not investigated a single complaint made against councillors despite receiving almost 60, as a new system to clear the list has been introduced.
Basildon Council's monitoring officer has said the standards committee is "overwhelmed" with the complaints received by members of the public, staff and other councillors.
A new method by which a complaint must first go to the monitoring officer before it is heard by the standards committee has been criticised by the opposition.
At Thursday evening's annual council meeting, Councillor Andy Barnes, newly elected Conservative leader of the council, said problems need to be solved "like adults" to free up the "completely and utterly overwhelmed" standards committee.
Independent leader, Councillor Kerry Smith, said the move has similarities to Justice Secretary David Lammy MP's proposal to reform jury trials, which he strongly opposed.
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Interim monitoring officer Mark Greenburgh said at the meeting: "We have got something like 60 complaints about members of the council, and we have made no progress at all in being able to investigate those complaints because there has been a log jam at the standards committee.
"We have not even investigated any one of the nearly 60 cases," he continued. "Justice delayed is justice denied.
"There is more chance of the member having retired from the council than of having a hearing, and that is what I am trying to unblock."
The new system encourages members to resolve problems with the monitoring officer directly, which Mr Barnes said was to stop a complaint being the first action taken.
A case, if determined to be worthwhile by the monitoring officer, would then go to a hearing.
Mr Smith said: "This is about defending members' rights to have their fate and future decided upon by their own peers. This will abolish it."
Mr Barnes said: "We need to look at the bar for a standards complaint where the first option is not a complaint.
"These are not criminal matters, they are matters that often are relatively trivial."
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