By Pepper Parr
September 7th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
A Procedural Manual is the kind of thing that lawyers and policy wonks love to read – the rest of us avoid the things.
Burlington’s Procedural Manual set out the rules that govern how City Council handles their meetings. When a person can speak; how long a person can speak – they are in place to ensure the business of the day gets done. The manual in place today has a lot of shortcoming and was due for an upgrade.
Jim Thomson expressing concern over comments from a Council member.
Jim Thomson who is delegating at city Council on Monday has some brisk comments about the new 19 page document.
This report was due Q3 2023
On Nov 10 2023 the former Clerk told the Ombudsman investigator it would be delivered in December 2023
When the Deputy Clerk took over the file, the report was supposed to be due January 2024.
In April 2024, Council directed it to be complete no later than Q2
Here we are at end of Q3 2024 and the residents of Burlington are given a day and half to review and prepare delegations on what is one of the most important documents the City produces.
Thomson points to the City Vision to build more citizen engagement.
How are citizens engaged when a report is released that gives citizens a day and a half to comment?
A survey held in the summer from June 1 to August 14 in 2023.
Where are the results of the survey?
How did the survey results inform the review?
Complaints were taken to the City Ombudsman – turns out their decisions are not legally binding.
Thomson wants to know what the status is of the Deputy Mayor with Portfolio positions Mayor Meed Ward created.
“Wasn’t the Policy supposed to be reviewed after 1 year? Has it been reviewed? Are any changes needed?
Jim Thomson delegating before City Council during the days they would let him into the Council Chamber.
“The use of electronic devices to record proceedings of a closed session is Prohibited. The Ontario Ombudsman recommends as best practice that closed sessions recorded.
“There was to be a quarterly listing of outstanding staff directions to be issued by Clerk and the list will be circulated by way of a memorandum in the Council Information Package. Why have there been none issued this year?”
All good questions
In the past Thomson doesn’t get much in the way of time to interact with Council on the questions he asks – other than a lip service – Thank you for your time.
It is the Procedure Bylaw
Mayor My Way does not answer questions.
Why is Our COB not following the Procedures? Our Rules should be the same as any other Municipality in Ontario. That’s why we have Procedural Rules, so they get followed. But not in Burlington??
It is difficult to engage with the City in a meaningful way given the limited time that the public is given to prepare thoughtful and well researched delegations.
Council Members are given their packages well before they are posted online and it doesn’t seem difficult for the same courtesy to be offered to the public.
Absolutely right Daintry. That’s the reason Jim asks the matter be deferred.that we will support at the lectern. It is clearly indicative of a council nose thumb to public engagement when they;
1. allow 75 – 95 page complex reports to most of the public to be posted less than 10 business days ahead of delegation registration deadline and
2. public comments and suggestions are not part of that report.
Anne finds review of the Procedure Bylaw easier than most as she drafted and
submtted to the Governing Board of a public Corporation procedure bylaws that had to be positively seen by an Accreditation team that went through all governance documents with a fine tooth comb. Never were any major issues found with the work of those equivalent to the Clerk’s office in the 10-12 years before she moved on to the Quqlity Assurance and Risk Management component of the governance.
It is absolutely impossible to undertake an appropriate and fulsome review of the submitted documentation to support the motion with less than 20 hrs invested by the reviewer. You know council members are not putting in 2 hrs.never mind 20 so how can they possibly serve us well on this matter. Further why is there no rebuke for staff totally ignoring council direction and Ombudsman direction without explanation. Samantha Yew and her Deputy Clerks are the best we have had since 2014. They work hard and try hard but we personally do not feel they are able to effectively manage the strong Mayor Committee of the Whole requirements of the staff OR do the best job we are sure they could do.
It also does not help when we have a city lawyer and Ombudsman who condone and support non-compliance with legislation such as 239 (7) of the Municipal Act.