Starting as early as Jan. 28, Collingwood council’s in-camera meetings could be audio recorded and stored in case of future investigations.
Councillor Steve Berman brought forward the motion at this week’s council meeting (Jan. 14), and a majority of council stood in favour of the change.
The motion calls for an alteration to the town’s procedural bylaw to require all closed session meetings be audio and, where possible, video recorded. The practice is supported by the Ontario Ombudsman's office.
Currently, there is a written record of minutes kept at an in-camera meeting, but no audio or video recordings.
Berman likened the extra layer of recording to insurance.
“Why is insurance necessary? Because you hope it’s something you’re never going to need,” he told CollingwoodToday. “There are a couple of ongoing issues … that go back half-a-dozen years … both of those things, it probably would have helped if they had a recording of the meetings where the things that are being questioned happened.”
There is currently a judicial inquiry into the sale of 50 per cent of the town’s electric utility to Powerstream, and the subsequent spending of the funds obtained in the sale.
According to the Municipal Act, a council is allowed to meet in-camera for discussions related to personnel matters, labour relations and contract negotiations, plans to buy, sell, or lease property, legal advice, and security issues
According to the Collingwood town website, the clerk, Sara Almas, reviews the matters slated for a council agenda and determines, in consultation with the CAO, if any matters should be discussed in camera. The subject of those discussions must fall within the areas specified in the municipal act.
Berman, who was elected in October 2018, participated in his first in-camera meeting on Jan. 14, where council received legal advice on the subject of recording in-camera meetings.
The new councillor said it was enlightening to participate in a closed session.
“Until I was in my first in-camera meeting, it was abstract to me,” said Berman. “Now I have a better understanding of what an in camera meeting is and how it’s not difficult to adhere to the rules of an in-camera meeting … it validated why there was no downside to recording them.”
Town Clerk Sara Almas said staff will now have to draft a policy for recording in-camera sessions, which would include parameters for safe storage of the files, what staff would have access to the files, and what would be required for someone to obtain the files.
“We don’t have those policies drafted yet,” said Almas, adding she expected the files would be accessible to a closed meeting investigator if there is a complaint, or in the case of a judicial inquiry.
She said town staff is working to put together the draft policy and change to the procedural bylaw for the Jan. 28 council meeting. Once that motion is passed by council, all in-camera meetings of council will be recorded.
Almas said it would likely be an audio recording in most cases, unless the in-camera session takes place in the council chambers where there is video recording technology.
In a recorded vote, Councillors Tina Comi and Yvonne Hamlin were opposed to the motion to start recording in-camera meetings.
Mayor Brian Saunderson, Deputy Mayor Keith Hull, and Councillors Bob Madigan, Steve Berman, Kathy Jeffery, Deb Doherty, and Mariane McLeod voted in favour.
