The Ontario Ombudsman's office has made four recommendations to the Town of Amherstburg after the town contravened the Municipal Act.
The contravention stems from a series of emails between administration and councillors in December 2014 and January 2015. The emails asked for council approval to make payments to town vendors around the holiday season. This constituted a closed door meeting which is against the act.
Mayor Aldo DiCarlo says they've already made changes to ensure the rules of the Municipal Act are followed in the future.
"We really have not done that since. We've been very cognizant of communication through email," says DiCarlo.
Based on the Ombudsman recommendations council passed a motion to give administration authority to sign-off on regular payments to vendors that hold a contract with the town without prior approval.
"We will still maintain all of the transparency we built in since taking office but it will put us in a better financial position and even allow administration an opportunity to find savings by coming up with even quicker payment terms with various vendors," says DiCarlo.