Report to/Rapport au

Report to/Rapport au :
Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee
Comité des services organisationnels et du développement économique
and Council / et au Conseil
27 May 2008/le 27 mai2008
Submitted by/Soumis par : Douglas Wallace, Meetings Investigator/l’enqueteur
pour les reunions a huis clos
Contact Person/Personne- resource: Douglas Wallace, Meetings
Investigator/l’enqueteur pour les reunions a huis clos
(613) 789-2166, [email protected]
City Wide/à l'échelle de la Ville
Ref N°: ACS2008-CMR-LEG-0017
SUBJECT:
CLOSED MEETINGS INVESTIGATION PROCESS
OBJET :
PROCÉDURE RELATIVE AUX ENQUÊTES SUR LES RÉUNIONS À
HUIS CLOS
REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS
That the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee recommend
Council:
1. Approve the process for accepting and investigating complaints set out in this
report; and,
2. Approve the inclusion of a notice on all Council and Standing Committee
Agendas which contain reports to be considered in closed session advising
members of the public of their right to question the decision to deal with the
matter in camera.
RECOMMANDATION DU RAPPORT
Que le Comité des services organisationnels et du développement économique
recommande au Conseil :
1.
D’approuver la méthode d’acceptation et d’instruction des plaintes énoncée
dans le présent rapport et
2.
D’approuver l’ajout à l’ordre du jour des réunions du Conseil municipal et
des comités permanents d’un avis énumérant les rapports devant être étudiés
à huis clos et informant les citoyens de leur droit de contester la décision
d’examiner ces rapports à huis clos.
BACKGROUND
On November 28, 2007, City Council approved the establishment of a Meetings
Investigator position to investigate complaints regarding the propriety of closed meetings
held by City Council, a local board, or a committee of either. The Meetings Investigator,
Mr. Doug Wallace, joined the City on January 14, 2008. As part of his mandate, the
Meetings Investigator agreed to develop processes and procedures for receiving
complaints regarding closed meetings for approval by City Council. This report is
submitted in response to this requirement.
DISCUSSION
Following his appointment, the Meetings Investigator worked with City Staff to refine
the information provided on the City’s website relating to this position. The resulting
information can be found on the website under the heading “Accountability and
Transparency”
(http://www.ottawa.ca/city _hall/mayor_council/accountability/indexen.html). The process is described on the site, as follows:
1. Investigations are initiated by the completion and submission to the City Clerk of
Request for Investigation form.
2. The Request for Investigation form is logged and forwarded to the Meetings
Investigator together with an initial collection of Council/Committee information
relating to the meeting.
3. The Meetings Investigator will review the request to determine whether a further
investigation is warranted.
4. If the Meetings Investigator decides to pursue the request, he will inform City
Council via a memo (similar to the current MFIPPA process) and launch an
investigation and collect all the relevant information required. Upon completion
of the investigation, the Meetings Investigator will report his findings and
recommendations to Council and/or the local board.
5. The investigation will be completed and reported on within 30 calendar days of
the initial request.
To date, there have been no requests since the appointment of the Meetings Investigator
to test the adequacy of this process.
Discussions with the Meetings Investigators
appointed by other municipalities, however, have led to the recommendation that Step 2
above be refined to specify that the information and documentation forwarded to the
Meetings Investigator by the municipality shall include the following:
a)
b)
c)
d)
a certified copy of the Notice of Meeting;
a certified copy of the Meeting’s Agenda;
a certified copy of any Minutes and relevant resolutions; and
a municipal contact list (i.e. contact information of those attending the meeting in
question).
Further, it is recommended that the process specify that the investigation referred to in
Step 4 will include a review of all documents provided as well as interviews with the
Chair and Members of any meeting being investigated.
It is also recommended that the name of a Requestor, the contents of the Request, and all
information gathered by the Meetings Investigator during the course of his investigation
be kept confidential pending the Report to Council or the decision by the Meetings
Investigator not to hold an investigation. The Meetings Investigator’s report will reveal
only the information required to better inform his decision.
While there is no empirical evidence to explain the absence of Requests for
Investigations at the City of Ottawa, two distinct possibilities exist. On the one hand,
anecdotal evidence suggests that the general public and the media appreciate that there is
sufficient justification for Council and its various committees to address certain issues in
closed session. Another opposing opinion is that the availability of a fast and free
investigatory process for questioning the propriety of a closed meeting is not widely
known. To avoid this latter possibility, it is recommended that each Council and
Standing Committee agenda containing an in-camera report include a Notice in the
following format:
Any person has a right to request an independent investigation of the
propriety of dealing with matters in a closed session.
A form requesting
such a review may be obtained, without charge, from the City’s website or in
person from the Chair of this meeting. Requests are kept confidential
pending any report by the Meetings Investigator and are conducted without
charge to the Requestor.
CONSULTATION
In addition to the City Clerk and City Solicitor, the Meetings Investigator has consulted
with Meetings Investigators appointed by other Ontario municipalities, the LAS Program
Coordinator with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, the Cape Canaveral City
Clerk and the Office of the Florida Attorney General.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no financial implications arising from this report.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Document 1: Request for Investigation of Closed Meeting form.
DISPOSITION
The Meetings Investigator and City Clerk’s Office will ensure the recommended changes
to the process are made and that the approved notice shall appear in all Committee and
Council agendas containing in-camera reports. In addition, Council’s decision on this
matter will be forwarded to all of the City’s local boards that are subject to the Meetings
Investigator’s jurisdiction with the suggestion that they adopt a similar Agenda Notice
provision as described in this report.