REVISED
By Pepper Parr
This is certainly a different take on going into closed session of a City Council Committee meeting.
A special meeting of the Committee of the Whole has been called for Monday February 27th – 9:30 am in the Studio Theatre of the Burlington Performing Arts Centre.
The purpose of the meeting is for education and training. The meeting is closed to the public in accordance with Sec. 239 (3.1) of the Municipal Act.
The Agenda for the meeting is: Official Plan Review Background: “Gearing Up”
Gearing up for what? A public assault on the process?
The Municipal Act states that:
A meeting of a council or local board or of a committee of either of them may be closed to the public if the following conditions are both satisfied:
1. The meeting is held for the purpose of educating or training the members.
2. At the meeting, no member discusses or otherwise deals with any matter in a way that materially advances the business or decision-making of the council, local board or committee.
So – what they are doing is legal – but why would a council that keeps talking about being transparent and wanting to involve the public, hold a meeting to train staff about how one goes about reviewing and revising an Official Plan – THE most important document a Council can produce and something that is going to take us a couple of years to complete?
