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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2014-09-17, Page 5Wednesday, September 17, 2014 • News Record 5 www.clintonnewsrecord.com letter to the editor For Ontario municipal council meetings, sunlight is the best disinfectant Dear Editor: Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin has called closed or secret municipal council meetings "troubling," and anyone who has seen their local council go behind closed doors knows exactly what Mr. Marin is talking about. As an advocate for property rights in Huron County, I've witnessed a family lose their business, home and dig- nity after secret, or "in camera; council meetings. Was the council right in their decision? Nobodyknows, because the public never got a chance to hear the debates or see which facts and opinions swayed the councilors. There ought to be a law to let the sun shine in, and there is: under the province's Municipal Act of 2001, all meetings of councils, local boards and their commit- tees must be open to the public unless they meet certain very narrow exceptions. Unfortunately, the law has no teeth: the Municipal Act specifies no punishment for councils that violate the law. The Ombuds- man investigates complaints of improperly closed meetings -158 of them in 2013 - but all his findings can do is shame violating councils. Some secrecy -prone councils won't even accept that feathery tap on the wrist: they're allowed to hire their own "investigators" who, not surpris- ingly, usually disagree with the Ombuds- man and report the closed council meet- ings didn't violate the law after all. Bill 8, now working its way through the provincial Legislative Assembly after being initially passed on July 8, would put starch in the sunshine law, giving the Ombuds- man direct oversight of municipal coun- cils, universities and school boards. Mr. Marin wants the Assembly to go further, adding meaningful penalties to the open - meeting law and, importantly, invalidating the results of illegally closed meetings. I applaud his efforts. My view, based on attending numerous council meetings in Southern-westem Ontario, is that councils go secretly behind closed doors far more often than the nar- row exceptions to the sunshine law allow. These improperly closed meetings under- mine constituents' confidence that gov- ernment is operating in their best interests. I'd like to comment on two of the most frequent explanations for secret council meetings under the Municipal Act: 1) that the matters under discussion involve the municipality in litigation or the potential for litigation in the future, and 2) that the council's legal adviser or staff suggest the council move "in camera; so the council's hands are supposedly tied. In my opinion, these explanations are too often used to protect councilors from what they really fear: public oversight. The "potential for future litigation" needs to be weighed against the public's powerful right to know, and also against an informed public's ability to help guide elected officials to correct decisions. If the public never hears the facts, how can it understand decisions? What's more, though municipalities are corporations, they are not like private corporations that compete for business and must fear com- petitors hearing their trade secrets. Our municipal councils should have few secrets beyond personnel matters. The advice of legal counsel that councils move to secret sessions must be understood as a conservative opinion rendered byworst-case-scenario profes- sionals hired to protect council members, not the public. I've applauded councilors who challenged their legal advisers' opin- ions on behalf of the public's interest in knowing what government is doing. Besides, saying "we went in -camera because we were advised to" is a too -easy excuse. I believe councilors are responsi- ble for their own decisions. Local government in Ontario holds tre- mendous power over people's lives. Except in very rare instances, government's delib- erations must be open to public overview and debate. The current "culture of secrecy" Ombudsman Marin decries must end. Let us urge our MPP's to make sure Bill 8 moves on to become law, so that all councilors throughout Ontario practice the free and open government that makes this country, and this province, great. Cindy Moyer Bluewater property -rights advocate and president of the Huron - Perth Landowners Association. EARLY FILES September 11, 1969 A bylaw to require early closing of outdoor eating places was considered last month by Clinton's town council after complaints were voiced about early -morning noise and litter in the vicinity of the Crown Drive -In Restau- rant on Victoria Street. But Mayor Don- ald Symons reported Monday evening that council lacks authority to regulate the hours of restaurants. Ward Knox, manager of the drive-in, appeared before council this week to answer crit- icism. Mr. Knox denied that the drive- in is open until 5 a.m. as one citizen charged last month. The staff stops serving food no later than 2:15 a.m., said Mr. Knox, and locks up at 3 or 3:30. September 15, 1977 The Clinton hospital, once doomed by the Ontario ministry of health and ordered closed last year, is fighting back and last week made a major first step on the long road to recovery. At a meeting last week in Seaforth, the Clin- ton hospital board was given first pri- ority by representatives of seven other hospital boards to go ahead with the renovation and updating plan. The meeting was called by Dr. R. Khazen the ministry of health's area coordina- tor. Khazen, was appointed to look after the Huron -Perth area, after local officials in the two counties turned down the District Health Council idea earlier this year. September 11, 1985 For students, the first week of school is a time to adjust to the rigors of a new grade. But, chances are, it's also a time to get accustomed to a new principal or a new teacher doling out the les- sons. This year is no exception with a number of new principals and teach- ers taking up positions in various schools in the area. Both Hullett Cen- tral School and Vanastra Public School welcome new principals this year to keep the schools running smoothly. Ron Jewitt, a Clinton resident, has assumed the principal's duties at Hul- let Central School in Londesboro. A teacher of 24 years' experience, he was the former principal at Colborne Cen- tral School for the past six years. September 5, 1993 A proposal to re -open the former Elm Haven Motor Hotel as a licensed lounge and motel was discussed at a public meeting on Monday night. The public meeting of the Planning Advi- sory Committee (PAC) was held to dis- cuss an Official Plan Amendment (OPA) and rezoning to allow the new business. The former motel and tavern was previously rezoned residentially when plans called for it to be turned into a retirement villa. Brian Coombs, the new owner of the former Elm Haven, outlined his plans for the estab- lishment, noting that he would like to have a licensed lounge which could accommodate 300 people, along with a 13 -unit motel and conference room. September 11, 2002 Thieves have cost two Clinton busi- nesses almost $35,000 in stolen prop- erty and $16,000 in damages. On the morning of Sept. 7, criminals struck Charlie's Variety, on Victoria Street; and Moore's Knechtel Food Market, on Mary Street. According to a release from the Huron OPP, Cheryl Heroux, owner of Charlie's Variety, arrived at work around 6:45 a.m. on Saturday morning and found that the front door to her business had been forced open.