File photo by Alec Ross, BlackburnNews.comFile photo by Alec Ross, BlackburnNews.com
London

Municipal Act Violation Not Intentional

Ontario's Ombudsman says Mayor Matt Brown and the rest of council did not intentionally violate the Municipal Act, but nevertheless did so when the doors to city hall were locked during a meeting last summer.

Barbara Finlay launched an investigation into the June 10, 2015 council meeting after receiving complaints from two citizens. Both complaints stated the exterior doors to city hall were locked preventing the public from viewing council proceedings.

The incident happened during the thick of the inside workers strike which affected 750 city employees. A large group of them had gathered in front of city hall prior to the meeting, prompting concerns from security staff. Some members of the public were allowed into the third floor gallery at the start of the meeting, however several were cleared following an outburst several minutes into the meeting.

Finlay's final report found that the outside doors to city hall were locked for much of the meeting but that council "did not intentionally prohibit members of the public from attending the June 10 council meeting."

The report went on to say, "The doors were locked by security staff responding to a disruption. When council resumed in open session, the mayor was informed that the public had access to council chambers to observe the meeting. However, this was not the case."

The meeting was live-streamed over the internet.

Finlay is now encouraging the city to create and implement written security protocol to increase transparency around decisions made by security staff during disruptions.

“I appreciate the Ombudsman’s report and I will ask council to direct administration to come up with new protocols and practices that will prevent something like this from occurring again,” says Mayor Brown.

Finlay made the following three recommendations in her report:

1.) All members of council for the City of London should be vigilant in adhering to their individual and collective obligation to ensure that the city complies with its responsibilities under the Municipal Act, 2001 and its own procedure by-law. 2.) The City of London should ensure that the public has unimpeded access to council chambers in order to observe all open meetings of council and committees. 3.) The City of London should ensure that a formal written policy is created and implemented that sets out security protocols during meetings of council or committees.

To view the full report click here.

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