Agenda Lanark County Council Wednesday, August 24Th, 2005 7:00 P.M
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COUNTY OF LANARK COUNTY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING SUNSET BOULEVARD, PERTH, ONTARIO AGENDA LANARK COUNTY COUNCIL WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24TH, 2005 7:00 P.M. COUNTY COUNCIL COUNTY COUNCIL CHAMBERS Susan Freeman, Chair 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. MOMENT OF SILENT MEDITATION 3. ROLL CALL 4. DISCLOSURE OF INTEREST 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Suggested Motion by Councillor John Fenik: “THAT, the minutes of the Lanark County Council meeting held on June 22nd, 2005 and the minutes of the “Special” Lanark County Council meeting held on July 6th, 2005 be approved as presented.” 6. ADDITIONS AND APPROVAL OF AGENDA Suggested Motion by Councillor Dennis Cordick: “THAT, the agenda be adopted as presented.” 7. COMMUNICATIONS i) Mississippi River Water Management Plan – Draft Plan Review 3rd Public Information Centre – copies of the plan can be reviewed at the Clerks Office – attached, page 6. Suggested Motion by Councillor David Schoular: “THAT, the Mississippi River Water Management Plan – Draft Plan Review 3rd Public Information Centre communication be received as information only.” 8. DELEGATIONS None 1 of 43 9. COMMITTEE REPORTS • Perth Hotel Request for Support, Peter Wagland, CAO – to be distributed at the meeting. • Report #C-14-2005 Agendas and Minutes Public Documents – attached, page 10. Suggested Motion by Councillor Gary Doyle: “THAT, the County website be utilized to provide a method of making available all Council and Committee minutes and agendas for inspection; THAT, a disclaimer appear on the website in a highly visible location, stating that Staff Reports and Committee Minutes are recommendations to Council and that current agendas and minutes are subject to amendments and adoption by Council; AND THAT, the format in Appendix C of the Procedural By-Law 2003-38 be amended to change RECOMMENDATIONS to STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS.” • Community Development: August 3rd, 2005 meeting, page 15 – Chair J. Fenik • Public Works: August 3rd, 2005 meeting, page 18 – Chair A. Churchill • Community Services: August 10th, 2005 meeting, page 21 – Chair S. Mousseau • Corporate Services: August 10th, 2005 meeting, page 23 – Chair G. Doyle 10. BY-LAWS AND MOTIONS i) By-Law No. 2005-24, being a by-law to Establish a Standardized Application Form for Condominium Exemptions and to Establish General Responsibilities and Procedures for the Processing of Applications, page 27 - Councillor Ed Wilson. ii) By-Law No. 2005-25, being a by-law to Authorize the Execution of the Contract Between the Corporation of the County of Lanark and Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing under the Canada-Ontario Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund (COMRIF) for a Grant from the Federal and Provincial Governments for the Little Clyde River Bridge Project and to Designate the Signing of Officers Authorized to Execute the Contract and Bind the Corporation of the County of Lanark for Said Contract., page 41 - Councillor Al Lunney. 2 of 43 11. NEW BUSINESS i) Councillor Mailboxes (verbal) - Cathie Ritchie, Acting Clerk. The staff report regarding resolution motion #11 from the August 10th, 2005 Corporate Services meeting will be deferred to the September Corporate Services Committee meeting in order to give staff adequate time to prepare for a short term solution and long term plan. ii) Electronic Agenda and Minute Distribution Councillor Survey - Cathie Ritchie, Acting Clerk – to be distributed at the meeting. iii) “In-Camera” Session (verbal) – Gerry Haughian, Director of Social Services. Suggested Motion by Councillor Larry McPhee: “THAT, Council move “in camera” at …to address a matter pertaining to personal matters about an identifiable individual, including municipal or local board employees; AND THAT, P. Wagland, CAO; G. Haughian, Director of Social Services; L. Crosbie-Larmon, Human Resources Manager; C. Ritchie, Acting Clerk and A. Mabo, Committee Secretariat/Administrative Assistant remain in the room.” 12. NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETINGS Awards of Excellence 9:30 a.m. August 31st, 2005 Community Development: 5:00 p.m. September 7th, 2005 Public Works: September 7th, 2005 OEMC Conference: September 14th – 16th, 2005 25th Annual Terry Fox Run September 18th, 2005 Community Services: 5:00 p.m. September 21st, 2005 Corporate Services: September 21st, 2005 Agricultural Committee: 7:30 p.m. September 22nd, 2005 County Council: 7:00 p.m. September 28th, 2005 13. CONFIRM COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS By-Law 2005-26, being a by-law to confirm the proceedings of the Council meetings held on July 6th and August 24th, 2005, page 43 – Councillor Larry McDermott. 3 of 43 14. REQUESTS FOR MEDIA INTERVIEWS 15. ADJOURNMENT Cathie Ritchie, Susan Freeman, Acting Clerk Warden 4 of 43 COMMUNICATIONS 5 of 43 6 of 43 7 of 43 8 of 43 REPORTS 9 of 43 THE COUNTY OF LANARK COUNTY COUNCIL August 24th, 2005 Report #C-14-2005 of the Acting Clerk AGENDAS AND MINUTES PUBLIC DOCUMENTS 1. STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS It is recommended: “THAT, the County website be utilized to provide a method of making available all Council and Committee minutes and agendas for inspection; THAT, a disclaimer appear on the website in a highly visible location, stating that Staff Reports and Committee Minutes are recommendations to Council and that current agendas and minutes are subject to amendments and adoption by Council; AND THAT, the format in Appendix C of the Procedural By-Law 2003-38 be amended to change RECOMMENDATIONS to STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS.” 2. PURPOSE The purpose of this report is to verify the status of agendas and minutes that have not yet been adopted by Council and; To recommend procedures for notifying and/or educating the public regarding meeting processes and documents and; To clarify the intentions of staff reports and Committee minutes as recommendations only. 3. BACKGROUND Council instructed the Clerk’s Office to prepare a report on the status of agendas and minutes that have not been adopted by Council. In addition, to review the implications of posting Committee documents that contain staff recommendations which then may become Committee recommendations to Council. 10 of 43 Currently all agendas and minutes have been available to the public by request. Members of the public have also requested to be circulated all agendas and minutes on a regular basis and have been added to an email distribution list. Media Releases are also sent out following all Council Meetings. 4. DISCUSSION i) Section 253 of the Municipal Act, 2001 and amendments thereto states that (1) Inspection of records – Subject to the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, any person may, at all reasonable times, inspect any of the records under the control of the clerk, including, (a) by-laws and resolutions of the municipality and of its local boards; (b) minutes and proceedings of regular, special or committee meetings of the council or local board, whether the minutes and proceedings have been adopted or not; (c) records considered at a meeting, except those records considered during that part of a meeting that was closed to the public; (d) the records of the council; (e) statements of remuneration and expenses prepared under section 284 ii) Section 4. (1) Part 1 of the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and amendments thereto states that every Person has a right of access to a record or a part of a record in the custody or under the control of an institution unless the record or part falls within one of the exemptions under sections 5 to 15; iii) Agendas and minutes whether adopted or not do not fall under the exemption clause in the Municipal Act or the MFIPP Act iv) Bill 123 – Transparency in Public Matters Act, 2004, a Private Members bill has received a first reading. The Act suggests the following provision: a. Section 7. (3) A designated public body shall post the minutes of its meetings in a publicly accessible location and shall publish them on its website at the same time as the minutes are made available to the members of the designated public body, whether the minutes have been adopted or not. v) The County website was launched June 30th, 2005 and agendas and minutes have been posted and updated since that time. vi) An opportunity to educate the public on municipal meeting processes. a. agendas and minutes are subject to amendment; b. recommendations are subject to change or not accepted 11 of 43 vii) Staff reports in the committee agendas will be identified as staff recommendations and committee minutes are identified as committee recommendations to Council and not decisions until adopted by Council; viii) Confidential documents will not be accessible from the public area of the website. 5. ANALYSIS AND OPTIONS By posting agendas and minutes to the website it will reduce the number of public and media requests made and therefore reduces the amount of staff time responding to the requests. The County will also be perceived by the public as conducting open meetings. Councillors may access current meeting documents from the website in a timely manner. Options: i) Posting all agendas and minutes ii) Posting all agendas and minutes with a disclaimer iii) Not posting agendas and minutes until adopted by Council Sample Disclaimer: Committee minutes contain staff recommendations in the form of a report. All Committee minutes are subject to amendment prior to their adoption by the committee at their next regularly scheduled meeting. County Council may accept, revise or defeat a Committee’s recommendation. Council minutes that are posted are not final until adopted at the next regularly scheduled meeting