WHEREAS the Procedure Bylaw (the “Bylaw”) governs all meetings of both City Council and Executive Committee. This is clearly indicated in s. 3(1);
WHEREAS s. 14(1)-(2) of the Bylaw directs that:
(1) All meetings of Council shall be held openly and no person shall be excluded, except for improper conduct.
(2) Notwithstanding Subsection (1), where a majority of the members present is of the opinion that it is in the public interest to hold a Committee of the Whole meeting, in private, on a subject, the Council may by resolution move into Committee of the Whole “in private” to consider such busines as council refers, and to exclude any person or person from the committee meeting but such committee cannot take any final action to bind the Council and must at the conclusion of its deliberations formally report to open Council its recommendations which if adopted shall become the resolve of Council. (Emphasis added);
WHEREAS s. 14(1)-(2) of the Bylaw clearly indicates that Council and Executive meetings are presumptively open, and that only “a majority of members present” may direct that a matter be considered in private;
WHEREAS “member” in s. 14(2) plainly means “the Mayor or a councillor” as defined in s. 2(1)(j);
WHEREAS since at least November of 2020, City Council meetings have complied with s. 14(1)-(2) of the Bylaw;
WHEREAS since at least November of 2020, Administration has regularly placed matters on a “private agenda” for Executive Committee. The matters have been made presumptively secret rather than presumptively open, contrary to s. 14(1);
WHEREAS since at least November of 2020, members of Council have occasionally facilitated secret meetings of Executive Committee through email exchanges or other forms of non-public communication. These matters have been made private without public debate, contrary to s. 14(2);
WHEREAS Executive Committee and City Council have the same voting members. Executive Committee’s “recommendations” to City Council are functionally a recommendation to itself. Predictably, the recommendations are typically agreed with. Therefore, the process by which “recommendations” are made is important;
WHEREAS democracy requires transparency;
WHEREAS only democratically elected representatives can validly decide what to hide from the public, including for valid strategic purposes or as contemplated under applicable municipal legislation; and
WHEREAS debate regarding what to hide from the public can and should be held in public;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that City Council:
1. Commits to more transparent decision-making, including fewer secret meetings.
2. Directs that the following process for Executive Committee be implemented immediately:
a. All matters coming before Executive Committee shall be placed on the publicly circulated agenda. All matters will presumptively be discussed in public in keeping with s. 14(1) of the Bylaw.
b. If Administration’s view is that certain materials associated with an Executive Committee agenda item are best hidden from the public, Administration may choose to not include those materials in the agenda package provided to the public and Council.
c. If Administration believes a matter should be debated in private, they may make that comment at the public Executive Committee meeting.
d. If a member of Council believes a matter should be privately discussed, they may move a motion to that effect at the public Executive Committee meeting. Members will publicly debate this motion. If a majority of members present agree with the motion, Executive Committee may validly move into a private Committee of the Whole as contemplated in s. 14(2) of the Bylaw.
e. Administration may provide additional materials to Executive Committee members during a private Committee of the Whole meeting. The general content of any additional materials discussed in private shall be summarized at the resumption of the public meeting.
f. As always, no final decisions will be made in secret meetings – or in secret portions of meetings.
Respectfully submitted,
Dan LeBlanc Councillor – Ward 6 |
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