Wollaston, Township of

The Ombudsman investigated a complaint alleging that the Township of Wollaston’s Communication Team is a committee of council, and that any meetings it may have held since its inception should have been subject to the open meeting requirements in the Municipal Act, 2001. In the course of the investigation, our Office learned of a phone call between two of the three members of the Communication Team. The Ombudsman determined that: 

1. The Communication Team is a committee of council;
2. Although quorum was reached on this phone call, the discussion did not materially advance the business or decision-making of the Communication Team;
3. The Communication Team did not otherwise conduct any meetings as of the date of the investigation.

The Ombudsman recommended as a best practice that the Communication Team take care to avoid discussions that may advance its business or decision-making during informal gatherings, including by electronic means (such as a phone call), since quorum is easily reached because of its small committee size.

The Ombudsman investigated a complaint alleging that the Township of Wollaston’s Communication Team is a committee of council, and that any meetings it may have held since its inception should have been subject to the open meeting requirements in the Municipal Act, 2001. The Ombudsman found that the Communication Team is a committee of council, as more than 50% of its members are members of council, and it is therefore subject to the open meeting requirements. 

The Ombudsman found that council for the Township of Wollaston failed to provide sufficient information about the general nature of the matter to be considered in its resolution to move into closed session during its meeting on December 11, 2023. The Ombudsman suggested that, for the benefit of the public, council could have provided a general description of the topic to be discussed in closed session, such as “human resources matter” or “an employment-related matter,” without undermining the reason for excluding the public from the discussion.

When council for Wollaston Township discussed in camera the job performance of an individual employee, it fit within the exception for personal matters, as well as the exception for labour relations or employee negotiations. The same was true of council’s discussion about the past job performance of a prospective consultant.

Council for Wollaston Township failed to state in its resolutions to close meetings on December 3, 2018 and January 7, 2019 the general nature of the subject to be discussed. Instead, council only referenced the exception relied upon to close the meetings.

The Ombudsman received a complaint regarding the attendance of three councillors at an April 30, 2019 public proceeding of the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal. The complaint alleged that the councillors’ attendance amounted to a “meeting” under the Municipal Act, 2001 and was therefore subject to the Act’s open meeting rules. The Ombudsman found that the three council members did not discuss the subject matter of the proceeding with any of the councillors, municipal staff, or other parties in attendance. Accordingly, the Ombudsman determined that the councillors did not contravene the Act’s open meeting requirements because they did not do anything that materially advanced the business or decision-making of council.