Ontario ombudsman clears London City Council over two closed meetings

Ontario’s ombudsman has cleared city council of any wrongdoing following a months-long investigation into complaints about two separate closed meetings last year at city hall.

In his report, released on Friday, ombudsman Paul Dubé ruled council did not violate any rules when members went behind closed doors on May 17 to discuss the appointment of an integrity commissioner, and on June 23 to discuss the integrity commissioner’s report into the affair involving Mayor Matt Brown and Councillor and former Deputy Mayor Maureen Cassidy.

The first complainant alleged the May discussions violated the open meetings rule of the Municipal Act and that the hiring of the integrity commissioner should have been discussed publicly. The second complainant, the ombudsman said, took issue with how the integrity commissioner’s report on the affair, released two days prior to the June meeting, was being discussed out of public view.

Both complaints were received by the ombudsman’s office in June, Dubé said. The office is mandated to investigate complaints of council meetings that may have been inappropriately held behind closed doors. However, there are exceptions to the rule that most meetings must be held in public, including when someone is being hired, and when council is receiving legal advice.

In investigating the complaints, Dubé said his office reviewed the council agenda, minutes from the meetings in question, staff reports and the integrity commissioner’s report and spoke with city staff members, while also considering “relevant sections of the Municipal Act and the city’s procedure by-law.”

According to the report, council told investigators that the first meeting dealt with personal matters about an identifiable individual as well as advice subject to solicitor-client privilege, while the second was held in-camera as written and verbal legal advice regarding the integrity commissioner’s report was presented to council.

In his decision, Dubé said the two meetings did not violate the Municipal Act, as both were permitted to be closed to the public under the act’s solicitor-client privilege exceptions. In addition, Dubé said the first meeting also fell under the act’s personal matters exception.

Dubé offered no recommendations in his report, which comes as his office continues to investigate council on a separate matter.

Announced in November, that probe centers around a complaint that council violated the Municipal Act when it held a meeting on July 26 regarding the relocation of city services to Citi Plaza. The complainant also alleged council made a decision on the matter during the closed session meeting.

The investigation is ongoing, and it’s not known when the investigation is expected to wrap up.

Previously, council was found to have violated the Municipal Act when it held a meeting on June 10, 2015 during the height of the inside workers strike.

In her report, acting ombudsman Barbara Finlay ruled city security staff failed to ensure that doors to city hall were unlocked during an open meeting, despite the best intentions of the Mayor and council, “effectively preventing members of the public from freely entering to observe government in process.”

“Consequently, large portions of the June 10 council meeting were closed to the public contrary to the Municipal Act,” Finlay said.

Finlay recommended council members be vigilant in ensuring that the city complied with its responsibilities under the Municipal Act, that the public have unimpeded access to council chambers to observe all open meetings, and that a formal written policy be created and implemented that set out security protocols during meetings.

Council was also the focus of an Ombudsman investigation in the spring of 2015 after council held a closed meeting that focused on the development of the former South Street hospital. In his report, ombudsman Andre Marin ruled the meeting on March 2, 2015 did not violate the Municipal Act.

With files from Natalie Lovie and Scott Monich

The Ombudman’s full report on the May and June meetings can be read below: