South Huron, Municipality of

The Ombudsman reviewed a closed meeting held by council for the Municipality of South Huron to discuss an identified employee’s disagreement with the application of the municipality’s personnel policy. During the discussion, council received a legal opinion on the matter. Although not relied upon by council, the Ombudsman found that the portion of the discussion related to the solicitor’s advice fit within the exception for solicitor-client privilege.

The Ombudsman reviewed several closed meetings held by council for the Municipality of South Huron held between 2008 and 2013. The Ombudsman found that the resolutions to proceed in camera at most of the meetings only stated that council would meet in closed session at a given time. The resolutions failed to include the subject matter to be considered in closed session or the specific exception(s) relied upon to go into closed session.

The Ombudsman reviewed seven closed meetings held by council for the Municipality of South Huron. The Ombudsman found that for several of the meetings, there was a lack of information available in the minutes. For one meeting, for example, the minutes failed to provide any information about the discussions that took place. In another instance, the meeting minutes failed to record all of the topics of the in camera discussion. The Ombudsman recommended that the municipality ensure that its meeting record is complete and accurately reflects all of the substantive and procedural items that were discussed. Additionally, the Ombudsman recommended that the municipality implement a practice of audio recording its closed sessions.

The Ombudsman reviewed seven closed meetings held by council for the Municipality of South Huron to discuss staffing issues. In some of these meetings, council voted to provide directions to staff. The Ombudsman found that all of the meetings which were closed for discussions fell within the cited exceptions. The Ombudsman found that the voting that took place during these meetings was permissible.

The Ombudsman reviewed a closed meeting held by council for the Municipality of South Huron to discuss a number of staffing issues, relying the labour relations exception. The discussion included staff performance reviews, staff conduct, discipline, and the salaries of specific employees. The Ombudsman found that the discussion fit within the labour relations or employee negotiations exception.

The Ombudsman reviewed a closed meeting held by council for the Municipality of South Huron that relied on the personal matters exception to discuss a number of staffing issues. The discussion included issues of staff performance reviews, reorganization, staff conduct, discipline, and the salaries of specific employees. The Ombudsman found that these matters are considered personal information for the purposes of the Municipal Act, 2001 and therefore they fit within the personal matters exception.