WELLINGTON NORTH – The Ontario Ombudsman will become the closed meeting investigator for this municipality as of Jan. 1.
A recommendation to use the Ombudsman, contained in a report from clerk Karren Wallace, was approved by Wellington North council on Oct. 26.
The report notes that John Maddox, who has served as closed meeting investigator for the township since 2015, is retiring at the end of this year.
Maddox has also been on retainer as investigator for the County of Wellington as well as Centre Wellington, Erin, Guelph-Eramosa, Minto and Puslinch.
In 2017, the Township of Mapleton decided not to appoint an investigator, allowing the task to default to the Ontario Ombudsman’s office.
The Municipal Act allows for any person to request that an investigation into whether a municipality, local board, or a committee of either, complied with the closed meeting rules in section 239 of the act.
The act authorizes a municipality to appoint an investigator to investigate complaints “in an independent manner,” the report states.
If municipality has not appointed an investigator, the Ontario Ombudsman becomes the default investigator.
The report notes the Ombudsman’s investigations are conducted at no cost to those who complain or to municipalities or local boards.
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.
“The Ombudsman’s Annual Report notes the number of complaints received by the Ombudsman has trended to a record low, and the number of municipalities using the Ombudsman has reached a record peak of 239 municipalities,” the report states.
The Ombudsman’s office has formed a dedicated “Open Meetings Team” to handle closed meeting complaints.
Whether the municipality has an independent investigator or the Ombudsman, if the municipality is found to be in violation of the open meeting rules, the municipality is required to make the report public, and council is expected to pass a resolution setting out how it intends to address the report.
However, the report notes, recommendations made by either an independent investigator or the Ombudsman are not binding and it is up to the municipality to decide any future course of action.
“Wellington County clerks have discussed whether to continue to appoint an investigator or to default to the Ombudsman,” states Wallace in the report.
“As the legislation has been in effect for some time now, and given the low trend of complaints, the recommendation is to default to the Ombudsman.”
