WELLINGTON COUNTY – County council is tweaking how it makes decisions in the hopes its transparency with the public will improve.
Presented by consultant Nigel Bellchamber at a county council meeting Thursday afternoon, five of 10 recommendations included in a new report on an audit of county council's decision-making process were approved to be "implemented immediately."
This includes keeping doors open to meetings unless the public is to be intentionally excluded and ensuring any oral reports are reflected in an amended report or addendum accompanying the meeting minutes.
The presentation was inspired by a motion in March from Warden Andy Lennox directing staff to investigate county council's decision-making process after hearing concerns from both council and community members regarding the strategic plan decision-making process and communication by the county.
A full list of recommendations is available here.
Out of the recommendations to be investigated further, several councillors disagreed with recommendation five which advises that the county’s solicitor or closed meeting investigator be consulted regarding the participation of non-members of committee who are also members of council in the discussions and decision-making at committee meetings.
This would essentially put non-committee members of county council on the same level as the public.
"I do see how this could put us in a potentially bad situation but I really do think we have to find a different way to get this done," said Coun. Doug Breen. "Ultimately I would argue that nothing we do in committee really moves the business of council forward because they can't make any decisions ... so I understand the argument but I would certainly argue the other way."
Coun. Mary Loyd disagreed- arguing the public doesn't have time to attend all committee meetings and "there's a sense that by the time something arrives at county council, "it's already done and decided."
"If I'm a member of the public, I might sit in the gallery thinking that something is going to be discussed and it never comes up it's just the report is received and moved forward," said Lloyd. "So I think part of this transparency is that we need to help educate our public that they can come to standing meetings, they can be part of what's happening in those meetings and that when they come to council there's still opportunity for councillors to ask those questions and it's up to them to push their councillors to ask those questions."
Bellchamber said he's not suggesting county councillors are making bad decisions with the recommendation but wanted to be clear they "may be at risk."
"Good discussion obviously results in good decisions, the question is you don't want to make those decisions in a way that jeopardizes your decision-making," said Bellchamber, suggesting councillors that want to participate in a committee they are not on should register to delegate as residents do.
Staff will pursue consultation on recommendation five and follow-up with council later this year and four was referred to the administration, finance and human resources committee for further review.
Implementation costs for recommendation eight, which suggests live-streaming county council and committee meetings, will be included in the 2025 budget with full implementation coming no later than March 31, 2025.
Recommendations nine and 10 will be implemented once the council's procedure bylaw is revised and will be completed no later than March 31.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program
