HM-I Report Corporate Services Committee Committee of the Council of bmmpton.ca HOWOf Gty The Corporation of the City of Brampton Corporate Services Committee Date: June 24- . ZQ& Date: June 8, 2015

Subject: Council and Committee Meetings - Outstanding Requests for Information (BC.x)

Contact: Peter Fay, City Clerk, Corporate Services, 905.874.2172, [email protected]

Recommendations:

1. That the report from Peter Fay, City Clerk, Corporate Services, dated June 4, 2015, to the Corporate Services Committee Meeting of June 24, 2015, re. Council and Committee Meetings - Outstanding Requests for Information (File BC.x), be received;

2. That the Resolution set out in Appendix A, requesting the Government to enact enabling legislative changes to permit remote participation by members of the City's Accessibility Advisory Committee, be adopted.

Overview:

This report addresses a number of outstanding requests from Council, including: o a 6-month review of the new standing committee structure, o a review of Council meeting start times, and o consideration of a motion to request the Ontario Government to implement enabling legislation to permit remote participation of appointed members to municipal advisory committees.

This report recommends Council continue with the existing standing committee structure. If Council wishes to consider changes to the sequencing of the standing committees, options are suggested.

This report does not recommend any change to Council's start time for its regular meetings (i.e., 12:00 pm for closed session and 1:00 pm for open session).

This report recommends Council adopt a resolution of support to request the Ontario Government to implement enabling legislative amendments to the Municipal Act, 2001 and Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005, to permit remote participation of appointed members to municipal advisory committees. HH-X Background:

In December 2014, pursuant to Resolutions C325-2014, C326-2014 and C327-2014, Council made a number of decisions to establish its decision-making structure, subject to the following requests:

"2. That the following new Committee Structure be established, subject to a review by Council in June 2015 as to the ability of the new structure to meet Council's priorities, and the corresponding terms of reference attached as Appendixl be approved:

a. Standing Committees: i. Community & Public Services Committee ii. Planning & Infrastructure Services Committee iii. Corporate Services Committee iv. Economic Development Committee..."

"3. That a revised meeting calendar, as set out in Appendix 2, and based on Council's Committee structure decisions, be approved, subject to the Clerk's Office amending the meeting calendar to schedule the following three Standing Committees on the Wednesday of the standing committee meeting week, in order that Tuesday's remain free from Standing Committee meetings to allow for other advisory committee meetings and Member constituency business: a) Community and Public Services Committee b) Corporate Services Committee c) Economic Development Committee; and,"

"8. That the Clerk be requested to investigate possible scheduling conflicts and opportunities and make recommendations to Council regarding advancing the start time of Council meetings to the morning of the scheduled meeting day (e.g., 9:30 am), or to such other time during the scheduled meeting day that may be appropriate, and report back to Council."

At its March 25, 2015 meeting, Council also passed Resolution C077-2015, as follows:

'That the copy of correspondence from Mayor Bonnie Crombie, City of Mississauga, to The Honourable Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario, dated March 3, 2015, to the Council Meeting of March 25, 2015, re: Amending the Ontario Municipal Act, 2001 and the Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 be referred to staff for a report to a future meeting of the Corporate Services Committee."

This report addresses these various matters, including:

• a 6-month review of the new standing committee structure, • a review of Council meeting start times, and • consideration of a motion to request the Ontario Government to implement enabling legislation to permit remote participation of appointed members to municipal advisory committees. HH-fc Current Situation:

Standing Committee Structure and Review:

Council established four (4) standing committees for the current term, as compared to the previous term which included two (2) standing committees:

2014-2018 Term of Council 2010 - 2014 Term of Council • Planning and Infrastructure Services • Planning, Design and Development Committee Committee • Community and Public Services • Committee of Council Committee • Economic Development Committee • Corporate Services Committee

Standing Committees are defined in the Procedure By-law and are comprised of all members of Council. They have a regular meeting schedule and make recommendations to Council for final approval. Standing Committees are the primary venue for Council priority-setting, policy development, operational oversight, issue and opportunity investigation, and public input and participation.

Table 1 shows some statistics for the current standing committees for the first six months of the current term of Council. Aside from the Planning and Infrastructure Services Committee, which historically deals with more business items due to the level of urban growth and development in the City, the distribution of workload and activity across the three remaining standing committees is relatively balanced. The standing committees continue to facilitate the pursuit of Council's strategic priorities.

Table 1 Planning and Community Economic Corporate Infrastructure and Public Development Services Services Services Committee Committee Committee Committee Meetings (#) 10 9 9 9 In-session Meeting 1044 1313 616 1128 Time (minutes) Items (#) 138 61 40 67 Recommendations (#) 142 73 47 84 Note: for meetings to t ne end of May 2015

Based on anecdotal comments from Members, staff and the public, there are no issues with the current standing committee structure. Comments to-date have included the following: • The standing committee mandates provide clarity on focus and function • Appreciation for breaks between standing committee meetings to focus on other work • Distinct standing committees provide better clarity and certainty for staff and public interest and attendance at meetings, as compared to the previous Committee of Council system HH-* Duringthe first few meetings of the standing committees, there was some misunderstanding of committee mandates at times, particularly in relation to the separation of recreation programming (Community and Public Services Committee) and parks operations (Planning and Infrastructure Services Committee) functions, but over time is improving.

One area that has generated some discussion has been the sequencing of the three standing committees on the Wednesday meeting day and the start times. In consultation with the respective Committee Chairs, the following recent changes have been made: • Re-ordering the Economic Development Committee and Corporate Services Committee on a trial basis • Advance the start time of the Community and Public Services Committee from 10:00 am to 9:30 am

If Council wishes to give consideration to regular rotation of the standing committee meeting sequence, the following suggestion could be considered:

Meeting Schedule Standing Committee Meeting Sequence Remainder of 2015 9:30 am Community and Public Services Committee 1:00 pm Economic Development Committee 3:00 pm Corporate Services Committee January-June 2016 9:30 am Corporate Services Committee 1:00 pm Community and Public Services Committee 3:00 pm Economic Development Committee July - December 2016 9:30 am Economic Development Committee 1:00 pm Corporate Services Committee 3:00 pm Community and Public Services Committee

Council can reconsider the sequencing at the mid-point of the term to determine if further scheduling changes are required.

Start Time for Council Meetings:

Council requested a recommendation regarding changing the start time of Council meetings to either earlier in the morning on a meeting day (e.g., 9:30 am) or to some other time, such as the evening.

Currently, Council meetings are scheduled to start at 1:00 pm with public session, however Council convenes its closed session business portion of the meeting at 12:00 pm, if necessary. Council starts all its meetings in public session, so if it needs to meet at 12:00 pm for closed session business, it always starts its meeting in public session first. Having Council consider its closed session business at the start of the meeting allow for public reporting of any outcomes from closed session during public session while Council is convened in the Chambers, reinforcing the principal of transparent and open local government.

It is not recommended that Council change the start time of its meetings either earlier in the meeting day or later in the meeting day. tflf-S Advancing the start time to the morning would mean any closed session business would not occur until the end of the meeting. Also, necessary and sometimes last minute urgent preparations by Members and staff are necessary prior to the start of the Council meeting. An earlier start time would significantly reduce the amount of preparation time before the start of the meeting.

It has been suggested that delaying the start time to later in the afternoon or evening will promote and encourage larger public attendance and participation. However, anecdotal evidence from past meetings held during the evening has demonstrated that the time of the meeting does not always impact public attendance. In fact, it is the subject matter and agenda business that tends to drive attendance and participation, more so than the start time of a meeting. Council's Procedure By-law allows Council to meet in the evening when and if desired, as was demonstrated by the recent Special Meetings on the City's finances and the review of the Southwest Quadrant Project.

Table 2 shows start times for municipal councils for the largest municipalities across and Ontario. While some municipalities do convene meetings in the evening, most large municipalities, like Brampton, meet during the day.

Tab e2 Largest Canadian Municipal Council Other Large Ontario Municipal Council Municipalities Scheduled Start Municipalities Scheduled Start Time Time Toronto 9:30 am London 4:00 pm 7:30 pm Markham 7:00 pm Calgary 9:30 am Vaughan 1:00 pm Ottawa 10:00 am Windsor 6:00 pm Edmonton 9:30 am Kitchener 7:00 pm Mississauga 9:00 am Burlington 6:30 pm Winnipeg 9:30 am Greater Sudbury 6:00 pm Vancouver 9:30 am Oshawa 6:30 pm Brampton 1:00 pm St. Catherine's 6:30 pm Hamilton 5:00 pm Barrie 7:00 pm City 5:00 pm Cambridge 7:00 pm Surrey 5:00 pm Kingston 7:30 pm

Remote Participation in Accessibility Advisory Committee Meetings:

In early 2015, the Town of Richmond Hill adopted a resolution requesting the Ontario Government to enact enabling legislative amendments to the Municipal Act, 2001, and Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005, to permit telephone and video conference participation by appointed members of a municipal accessibility advisory committee.

Both the City of Mississauga (February 25, 2015) and Region of Peel (May 14, 2015) adopted similar resolutions requesting enabling legislative changes. Brampton Council, at its March 25, 2015, meeting, referred the matter to staff for a report back on a similar motion for Council consideration. H'l-lo Current legislation does not enable remote participation at meetings from members. While there may be issues with remote participation for Council and standing committee meetings, given quorum, voting and closed session confidentiality implications, enabling remote participation by members of a municipal accessibility advisory committee is strongly supported to ensure and maintain active participation in advisory committee meetings from citizen appointed members. This is another step forward to reduced accessibility barriers to persons participating in local government.

Attached as Appendix A is a proposed motion for Council's consideration and adoption, similar to the resolutions adopted by Richmond Hill, Mississauga and the Region of Peel.

Corporate Implications:

Financial Implications:

There are no immediate financial implications from this report.

Strategic Plan:

Ensuring a Council and Committee structure is functioning well helps to achieve all the strategic initiatives under the Strategic Plan, and in particular Corporate Excellence and Community Engagement.

Conclusion:

This report responds to a number of outstanding Council requests regarding meetings, standing committees and enabling remote participation by members in accessibility advisory committee meetings.

Peter Fay City Clerk

Report authored by: Peter Fay

Attachments:

Appendix A: Proposed City of Brampton Resolution re. Enabling Remote participation by Members in Accessibility Advisory Committee Meetings. HH-1

Appendix A

Proposed City of Brampton Resolution re. Enabling Remote Participation by Members in Accessibility Advisory Committee Meetings Moved By: Seconded By:

WHEREAS the Municipal Act, 2001 does not provide provisions for appointed members of municipal advisory committees to use telephone or video conferencing to participate in meetings; and WHEREAS some citizen members of the City of Brampton Accessibility Advisory Committee may, as a result of their disability, find it difficult to attend meetings from time to time; and WHEREAS the City of Brampton supports accessibility and removing such barriers that limit a members ability to actively participate in meetings; and WHEREAS the participation of these members is critical to the workings of these committees which work to remove barriers; and WHEREAS the City of Brampton Council's Procedure By-law requires members to be present to participate in meetings; and WHEREAS the Brampton City Council supports and joins the Councils of the Region of Peel, City of Mississauga and the Town of Richmond Hill to request the Ontario Government to consider appropriate legislative amendments to the Municipal Act, 2001 to make it easier for citizen members of the Accessibility Advisory Committees to participate in meetings; NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Ontario Government be requested to implement the appropriate legislative amendments to the Municipal Act, 2001 and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 to permit telephone and video conference participation by appointed members of municipal accessibility advisory committees; and

AND FURTHER that this resolution be sent to: 1. the Town of Richmond Hill, Region of Peel, City of Mississauga, and Town of Caledon for their information, and 2. the Honourable Premier Kathleen Wynne and the Honourable Ted McMeekin, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and all Brampton MPPs for their support. H-H-S

Background Information

Town of Richmond Hill Resolution (adopted at the December 15, 2014 Council Meeting)

Minute CW#14-14

Correspondence from Donna McLarty, Town Clerk, dated March 10, 2014, regarding Richmond Hill Accessibility Advisory Committee Meetings ­ Teleconferencing

1. a) That the correspondence from Donna McLarty, Town Clerk, dated March 10, 2014, regarding Richmond Hill Accessibility Advisory Committee Meetings for teleconferencing, be received;

b) That the Ontario Government consider the appropriate legislative amendments to the Municipal Act, 2001 to permit telephone or video conference participation by appointed members of municipal accessibility advisory committees required by the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005;

c) That this resolution be circulated to the Honourable Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario; Honourable Brad Duguid, Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure; Honourable Ted McMeekin, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing; Reza Moridi, MPP Richmond Hill; Dr. Helena Jaczek, MPP Oak Ridges - Markham; Costas Menegakis, MP Richmond Hill, municipalities in the GTHA; and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.