Council Cleared By Investigation
Story by Adelle Loiselle, Blackburn News
An investigation into a closed door meeting at Windsor City Hall last February has cleared city council of wrongdoing.
The abrupt decision to go in-camera came after a lengthy debate over whether to outsource the city’s Office of the Auditor General turned nasty. Mayor Eddie Francis accused councillor Alan Halberstadt of misleading the public by suggesting in his blog a decision to outsource would be a decision to make sure the audit into the WFCU Centre never saw the light of day. Others on council used even stronger language to condemn Halberstadt’s choice of words. The closed-door session lasted for the better part of an hour as councillors called lead auditor Angela Berry at home to question her about alleged complaints made about the audit.
Shortly after returning to public session, council voted to keep auditing services in-house and city clerk Valerie Critchley says the complainant questioned if some debate, that should have been public, was instead kept private. She admits the investigation is not routine with only two complaints made against the city since changes to the Municipal Act ruling in-camera meetings went into effect in 2007.
Amberley Gavel Limited carried out the investigation concluding council properly went in-camera and did not violate the Municipal Act. The company did make five recommendations including improving minute keeping and regularly reviewing policies for closed-door meetings.
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