Section 239 of the Municipal Act requires that, with a few specific exceptions, all meetings of council must be held in open session and advertised in advance.
The exceptions are:
a) the security of the property of the municipality;
(b) personal matters about an identifiable individual, including municipal employees;
(c) a proposed or pending acquisition or disposition of land by the municipality;
(d) labour relations or employee negotiations;
(e) litigation or potential litigation, including matters before administrative tribunals, affecting the municipality;
(f) advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose;
(g) a matter in respect of which a council, board, committee or other body may hold a closed meeting under another Act.
(h) certain matters under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Ombudsman Act,
(i) The meeting is held for the purpose of educating or training the members where no member discusses or otherwise deals with any matter in a way that materially advances the business or decision-making of the council, or committee.
Section 238 (2.1) of the Act provides that muncipal procedure by-laws must provide for public notice of all meetings, open or closed. Napanee Procedure By-law provides in s. 10.3(1):
Notice of a Council Meeting to the public shall be provided through:
(a) release of a meeting agenda by the Clerk; and
(b) posting of the time and date of the meeting on the municipality’s web site
If council decides to hold a closed session, the public must still be provided with notice. Council can only go into closed session if it first holds an open session and passes a resolution to go into closed session and states the general nature of the matter to be considered at the closed meeting.
The practice in Napanee is to state the purpose of going into closed session in the vaguest possible terms. Often, the resolution to go into closed session simply parrots all the exceptions in s. 239.
Council is required to have an agenda for the closed session but the agenda is never posted on the website or published. The agendas and briefing papers for closed sessions are printed on pink paper to indicate that it is for eyes only and sometimes distributed to council members with the briefing papers. In recent times the practice has been to distribute the pink papers after going into closed session and to collect them before opening the doors at the end of closed session. Apparently, if you want to be a good councillor in Napanee, it helps to develop speed reading skills and have a photographic memory.
Are the deliberations and decisions at closed session kept confidential. Amazingly, in most cases they are. There was a notable exception at a council meeting on October 27, 2015 when the mayor gave his version on what was said at a closed session on June 17 when the legality of the current tax policy was discussed with the municipal lawyer.
As reported in Nov 5 Beaver, the mayor stated:
“Though the Municipal Act does state that tax rates are to be the same for all properties and classes in a municipality, it also give examples for tiered municipalities. Mayor Gord Schermerhorn said the law can be ‘interpreted’ many ways and the municipality and it’s lawyer believe Greater Napanee’s two-tiered tax rates are not illegal. ‘We’re going to start a committee up this evening to deal with the whole issue, and yes you can say we’re breaking the law. The law is an interpretation. And, yes, we might be wrong but we don’t think we are,’ said Schermerhorn… Our lawyer told us that there is no precedent set to show that we’re wrong. He said there is no case law there that could prove you’re doing anything wrong, or defend that you’re doing anything wrong’ Schermerhorn said.”
The mayor’s apparent transgression of the Procedure By-law was pointed out but the mayor claimed he had done nothing wrong.
What happens after a closed session? A review of the minutes of Napanee council meetings invariably read that after the closed session, council goes back into open session it moves that the recommendations made in closed session be adopted without saying what decision, if any, was made. Does this comply with the Municipal Act?
The practice in Napanee is usually, but not always to hold a closed session at the end of every council meeting. At that point the public is ushered out and the doors locked. They are not opened until after council has left so the public never sees the open session that takes place after council leaves where the recommendations made in closed session are adopted. The public are at least entitled to see who voted for and against such recommendations but this doesn’t happen.
Notwithstanding the clear wording of the Act, “caucus meetings”, as they are sometimes called are still held in some municipalities. Many years ago it was a poorly-kept secret that there was always a meeting-before-the-meeting in Old Napanee at which important decisions were made. In some municipalities this is done openly. For example, the Public Inquiry of the Elliot Lake Mall Collapse heard extensive evidence of this practice.
The closed session procedure can sometimes have curious results. For example an assessment appeal by OPG took several years to resolve and it is said to have had considerable negative impact on the Town’s finances. But the entire episode has been dealt with in closed session with only oblique references to it in the agendas, minutes of the public meetings and budget papers. A decision to purchase 18 Water St E., a small building on the waterfront was made in closed session. The Heritage Committee was unaware of the purchase until after it was completed and a decision had been made to demolish it. The Heritage immediately made a presentation to council requesting an opportunity to investigate the heritage value of the building before demolition, complaining that proper procedure was not followed.
There have been two recent examples in Napanee where s.239 of the Act and the Procedure By-law do not appear to have been followed.
1. A secret meeting with the municipal solicitor on the legality of the current tax policy was held on the afternoon of June 17, 2015. It was quite proper that this meeting be held in closed session. However, no notice of the meeting was published. There is no record on the Town website of any public meeting having been held to hold the closed meeting as required by s. 239. Three motions to publicize the advice on the legality of the tax policy were defeated. Yet the mayor, at an open meeting of council. gave his take on what was discussed while voting against a motion that would have allowed other councillors to do likewise.
2. A secret meeting was held with the Town’s external auditors, Welch & Co. on the afternoon of September 22, 2015 to review the Town’s audited financial statements for 2014 which were being presented to council. What was discussed is unknown. There is no record anywhere of publication of this meeting or of a motion to go into closed session. No minutes appear on the Town website. In the evening, a public meeting was held, with a huge turnout, at which the auditors took a few minutes to formally present the Town’s audited financial statements after which the mayor asked, as he does every year, “So are we in good shape then?”
Does anyone know of other examples? If so, let us know.
Completely Free advertising, submit your site now and start getting new visitors. Visit: http://www.free-ad-posting.xyz
Sick of paying big bucks for ads that suck? Now you can post your ad on 1000s of advertising sites and it’ll only cost you one flat fee per month. Get unlimited traffic forever!
For details check out: http://www.organic-traffic-forever.xyz
Looking for fresh buyers? Get tons of people who are ready to buy sent directly to your website. Boost your profits quick. Start seeing results in as little as 48 hours. To get info Check out: http://www.getwebsitevisitors.xyz
Good evening, I was just visiting your website and submitted this message via your contact form. The feedback page on your site sends you these messages via email which is the reason you are reading my message at this moment right? That’s the most important accomplishment with any kind of advertising, getting people to actually READ your advertisement and that’s exactly what I just accomplished with you! If you have an ad message you would like to blast out to tons of websites via their contact forms in the US or to any country worldwide send me a quick note now, I can even focus on your required niches and my pricing is super low. Send a reply to: fredspencer398@gmail.com
Hello, I was just taking a look at your website and submitted this message via your contact form. The feedback page on your site sends you messages like this to your email account which is the reason you are reading through my message right now right? That’s the most important accomplishment with any type of advertising, getting people to actually READ your ad and this is exactly what you’re doing now! If you have an ad message you would like to promote to millions of websites via their contact forms in the U.S. or anywhere in the world send me a quick note now, I can even focus on your required niches and my charges are super low. Write a reply here: noemarcelojf85@gmail.com
Tired of paying for clicks and getting lousy results? Now you can post your ad on 10,000 ad websites and you only have to pay a single monthly fee. These ads stay up forever, this is a continual supply of organic visitors!
To find out more check out our site here: https://bit.ly/continual-free-traffic
Good morning, I was just taking a look at your website and submitted this message via your feedback form. The contact page on your site sends you these messages via email which is the reason you are reading through my message at this moment correct? That’s the holy grail with any kind of online ad, getting people to actually READ your ad and this is exactly what you’re doing now! If you have an ad message you would like to promote to millions of websites via their contact forms in the US or anywhere in the world send me a quick note now, I can even focus on specific niches and my prices are super reasonable. Send a reply to: destineylylazo75@gmail.com
Stem cell therapy has proven itself to be one of the most effective treatments for COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder). IMC is the leader in stem cell therapies in Mexico. For more information on how we can treat COPD please visit:
https://bit.ly/copd-integramedicalcenter
Do you want more people to visit your website? Get thousands of people who are ready to buy sent directly to your website. Boost your profits super fast. Start seeing results in as little as 48 hours. To get info Visit: https://bit.ly/more-website-visits
No cost promotion for your website here: https://bit.ly/ads-for-completely-free
Looking to promote your website for absolutely no cost at all? Check this out: http://www.post-free-ads.xyz
Sick of wasting money on PPC advertising that just doesn’t deliver? Now you can post your ad on 5000 ad sites and you only have to pay a single monthly fee. These ads stay up forever, this is a continual supply of organic visitors!
Get more info by visiting: http://www.permanent-web-links.xyz
Hello, I have been informed to contact you. The CIA has been doing intensive research for the past fifty years researching on what we call so called life. That information has been collected and presented for you here https://bit.ly/3lqUJ3u This has been the finding as of seventeen years ago as of today. Now governments and other large organizations have develop technology around these concepts for their own deceptive uses. Soon you will be contacted by other means for counter measures and the part that you play in all this. Please get this as soon as possible because there are powers that be to take down this information about this.
Interested in advertising that costs less than $49 per month and sends thousands of people who are ready to buy directly to your website? Check out: http://www.getwebsitevisitors.xyz
Hi, I was just on your site and submitted this message via your feedback form. The “contact us” page on your site sends you these messages to your email account which is why you’re reading my message at this moment right? That’s the holy grail with any kind of online ad, making people actually READ your ad and I did that just now with you! If you have an advertisement you would like to promote to tons of websites via their contact forms in the US or to any country worldwide send me a quick note now, I can even focus on particular niches and my charges are very low. Send a reply to: juniordannyqprj@gmail.com
Would you be interested in advertising that charges less than $39 monthly and delivers hundreds of people who are ready to buy directly to your website? Check out: https://bit.ly/buy-more-visitors
Sick of wasting money on PPC advertising that just doesn’t deliver? Now you can post your ad on 10,000 ad websites and it’ll cost you less than $40. These ads stay up forever, this is a continual supply of organic visitors!
For details check out: http://bit.ly/endless-traffic-forever