GUELPH – Wellington County council has renewed the contract of John Maddox as the county’s closed meeting investigator for another four years.
On Nov. 29 county council approved the recommendation of the administration, property and finance committee to enter into an agreement with Maddox.
Member municipalities that wish to utilize Maddox’s services are included in the agreement.
Maddox has been the county’s meeting investigator since 2015.
He has also been the investigator for six county municipalities: the Towns of Minto and Erin, and the Townships of Centre Wellington, Guelph-Eramosa, Puslinch and Wellington North.
In 2017, the Township of Mapleton decided not to appoint an investigator, allowing the task to default to the Ontario Ombudsman’s office, which does not charge for the service.
As an independent contractor, Maddox receives an annual retainer of $1,000 for the county and $300 for each member municipality, paid by the county. The hourly fee will be $150 with expenses reimbursed, including the respective mileage rate.
The hourly fee and mileage will be paid by the municipality in which an investigation is being conducted.
Committee chair councillor Chris White told council the number of inquiries about the investigator’s services have decreased since the system was first implemented.
Initially, said White, “A lot of these calls were because I think people were confused as to exactly what this was. I think people thought it was a way to investigate decisions that were made … so they’ve dropped off considerably.”
A meeting investigator’s sole mandate is to determine if an in-camera council meeting was appropriately held in closed session.
