But coverage of council meetings appreciated
To the Expositor:
Many residents, permanent and seasonal, of the Township of Tehkummah are very appreciative of the reporting that the journalists of The Expositor have undertaken in the past year, shedding a light into the municipal government affairs which impact us.
However, the most recent article had a misleading headline: “Tehkummah council cleared by Ombudsman in December 2017 closed meeting.”
The Ombudsman Report, as published on the Office of the Ombudsman website, states that “the complaint alleged that township council did not provide proper notice for a special council meeting held on December 22, 2017 in contravention of the Act and the township’s own procedure bylaw. “
The meeting was attended by three of the four sitting councillors, as well as the acting deputy clerk-treasurer. Councillor Ron Hierons and Clerk-Treasurer Karen Gerrard were not present at the meeting as they stated that proper notice was not being provided and they would not be part of a meeting that contravenes the legislation and would be considered to be an illegal meeting.
“The right of citizens to attend public meetings and view council proceedings in action is the foundation of the municipal open meeting requirements. The open meeting requirements set out in the Act demonstrate that the public has the ‘right to observe municipal government in process’.”
The Ombudsman Report clearly states that the council for the Township of Tehkummah failed to abide by the Municipal Act and the municipal procedural bylaw, by failing to provide adequate public notice of the meeting. “With respect to the December 22, 2017 special meeting, the procedure bylaw requires that public notice of meetings be provided by posting the meeting agenda for public viewing in the township office at least two days prior to the meeting being held. The December 22, 2017 meeting did not meet this requirement. Not only did the reeve call the special meeting only one day prior to the meeting date, but based on the information provided to the Office of the Ombudsman, public notice of the meeting was not posted in the township office at all or otherwise advertised in the township.”
“…the failure of council to provide notice for the special meeting is a violation of the open meeting requirements in the Municipal Act, 2001 and the township’s procedure bylaw. In addition, council failed to ensure that minutes of the in camera meeting were recorded.”
Although the reason for a closed meeting was valid, the Tehkummah council was not cleared by Ombudsman in December 2017 closed meeting.
A poorly worded headline such as this leads readers to believe that the council did not break any rules, when in fact Council failed to follow its own rules and turned their backs once more on the Municipal Act.
James Fawcett
Tehkummah
