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The Ombudsman received a complaint alleging that meetings of the Board of Directors of the Niagara Falls Hydro Holding Corporation are improperly closed to the public in contravention of the Municipal Act, 2001. The Ombudsman’s review found that the corporation is a municipally controlled corporation and not subject to the open meeting rules found in the Municipal Act, 2001. The Ombudsman also determined that the corporation has not violated its internal meeting rules in closing its Board meetings to the public.
The Ombudsman reviewed a closed meeting held by the General Issues Committee for the City of Hamilton to discuss the dissolution of the board of directors of a corporation. The meeting relied on the personal matters exception. The committee’s discussions were general in nature and related to the board of directors as a whole. There was no information provided about the board members in their personal capacity. Therefore, council’s discussion did not fit within the personal matters exception.