WELLINGTON COUNTY – The Ontario Ombudsman’s office will become the official closed meeting investigator for the County of Wellington in the new year.
County council approved the switch from current investigator John Maddox, who is retiring at the end of the year, on Oct. 29.
A staff report from clerk Donna Bryce notes Maddox has been retained by the county since 2015 and is also the investigator for member municipalities Centre Wellington, Erin, Guelph-Eramosa, Minto, Puslinch and Wellington North.
Wellington North approved a switch to the Ombudman’s Office on Oct. 26.
Under the Municipal Act, if a municipality does not appoint an investigator, the Ontario Ombudsman becomes the default investigator.
In 2017, the Township of Mapleton decided not to appoint an investigator, allowing the task to default to the Ontario Ombudsman’s office.
The Ombudsman does not charge for investigations.
Currently the County of Wellington pays an annual retainer to Maddox of $2,800: $1,000 for the county and $300 for each member municipality participating in the joint agreement.
If an investigation is required, the affected municipality pays Maddox $100 per hour plus expenses and mileage.
“There have been very few cases with regard to meeting investigations,” said councillor Chris White, who chairs the county’s administration, finance and human resources committee.
“There was a lot of them in the beginning because people assumed the investigator was investigating the decisions that were made and that’s not the case.
“They are there to investigate the process to make sure you went into closed for legitimate reasons.
White added, “And so the suggestion is we flip back to the Ombudsman.
“We didn’t go that way initially because there was some concerns about the occupant of that office at the time, but I think it’s safe to go back that way and hopefully we won’t see many more of those.”
Andre Marin was Ontario Ombudsman when the office initially assumed responsibility for investigating closed municipal meetings under changes to the Municipal Act in 2008.
Marin had called for broader oversight of municipalities, universities, school boards and hospitals, as well as long-term care homes, children’s aid societies and police services, which receive funding from the province but are not directly controlled by the government.
In 2014, new legislation to extend the Ombudsman’s mandate to this sector was passed.
Lawyer Paul Dube, a Calgary native who was formerly the federal Taxpayers’ Ombudsman, took over as Ontario Ombudsman in 2016 and currently occupies the office.
