By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: Jan. 6, 2013
Next council meeting? There’s a half a chance it will end with a closed door meeting.
Of the roughly 65 times the council met in 2012, almost 35 times the council went behind closed doors.
Either they were special meetings where councilors met only behind closed doors, or these were regular open door meeting that end in council going behind closed doors.
According to the BC Community Charter, a council meeting can be closed to public for reasons that include potential litigation, employees’ relations, and acquisition, disposition or expropriation of land or improvements.
Councillors say they are on the right side of the law in taking meetings behind closed doors.
“They are discussed behind closed doors because a discussion in public could prejudice the interests of the municipality,” said Coun. Doug Race.
Coun. Ron Sander said he didn’t like to see anything in a closed door meeting, but the ‘law is the law and we must follow it’.
“Most sessions are relatively short and to the point and only add on to regular meetings,” Sander noted.
Coun. Bryan Raiser said the present council is good at being careful to only discuss the relevant issues in camera.
“I can understand the frustration looking outside but there are certainly a lot of items rightfully classified as in-camera to discuss,” Raiser added.
The district releases some in-camera announcements to the public.
These few snippets of information provide a key-hole view into what is being discussed behind closed doors. Some from last year are provided below.
1. The council direct staff to close municipal hall for business during Christmas season.
2. That council direct staff to respond to request to cover the container at the Adventure Centre.
It’s hard to see why these state secrets couldn’t be discussed in the open.
But councillors are not always talking trivial stuff in closed doors meetings. In fact they are discussing issues that have direct ramifications on your pocket.
Like this one below.
“The CAO be paid a bonus of 5 per cent from council contingency of his base salary (exclusive of car allowance) on account of exceptional performance during the previous year.”
In April, a FOI by the Reporter revealed council voted behind closed doors to increase the salary of 32 exempt staff members.
Across the province, decisions made behind closed doors have revealed to have serious consequences.
A Vancouver Sun article last year revealed Central Saanich council voted behind closed doors to let a councillor stay away from council meetings while allowing him to draw his salary.
Last year in Revelstoke, the mayor and council gave themselves a raise of $6,000 and $3,000 respectively. The decision was made behind closed doors.
In a recent report, B.C. Ombudsperson Kim Carter suggests elected officials should reflect seriously on in-camera meetings.
She suggests councils should try to give more detail on why meetings are moved in-camera, rather than merely listing the community charter points that allow closed doors meetings.
