Recalibration proposed for City Council's cone of silence

City Clerk Rachel Tyczinski is asking for a tightening of confidentiality requirements for City Council meetings held behind closed doors.

Tyczinski is asking for new confidentiality clauses to be added to council's procedure bylaw, as follows:

A member shall not disclose or release by any means to any member of the public any confidential information acquired by virtue of their office in either oral or written form, except when required by law or authorized by council to do so.

Where a matter has been discussed in camera and where the matter remains confidential, a member shall not disclose the content of the matter or the substance of the deliberations of the in-camera meeting.

Electronic closed session meetings are confidential and no one other than the member should be able to hear the discussion.

The new secrecy language is included in a package of amendments Tyczinski is recommending be made to the procedure bylaw, which specifies rules for order and dispatch of City Council business.

Other proposed changes deal with issues including anonymous letters, use of offensive language, electronic participation in meetings, electronic voting, petitions, committee appointments, use of electronic devices by councillors at meetings, and a prohibition on anyone being inside the City Council 'horseshoe' without permission.

If the changes are approved by a procedure bylaw review committee, City Council will also be asked to discuss the possibility of proxy voting, and requirements for public consultation prior to adoption of regulatory bylaws.

City Council is allowed to meet behind closed doors (in-camera) to discuss:

• the security of the property of the municipality or local board
• personal matters about an identifiable individual, including municipal or local board employees
• a proposed or pending acquisition or disposition of land by the municipality or local board
• labour relations or employee negotiations
• litigation or potential litigation, including matters before administrative tribunals, affecting the municipality or local board
• advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose
• a matter in respect of which a council, board, committee or other body may hold a closed meeting under an act other than the Municipal Act
• information explicitly supplied in confidence to the municipality or local board by Canada, a province or territory or a Crown agency of any of them
• a trade secret or scientific, technical, commercial financial or labour relations information, supplied in confidence to the municipality or local board, which, if disclosed, could reasonably be expected to prejudice significantly the competitive position or interfere significantly with the contractural or other negotiations of a person, group of persons, or organization
• a trade secret or scientific, technical, commercial or financial information that belongs to the municipality or local board and has monetary value or potential monetary value, or
• a position, plan, procedure, criteria or instruction to be applied to any negotiations carried on or to be carried on by or on behalf of the municipality or local board
• an ongoing investigation respecting the municipality, a local board or a municipally-controlled corporation by an appointed ombudsman or closed-meeting investigator
• requests made under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act
• educational or training sessions

Asked by SooToday to explain, generally, how she selects sections of the procedure bylaw needing updates, and specifically, about the need for clearer language on the confidentiality of closed meetings, Clerk Tyczinski didn't refer to any recent local breaches of council secrecy.

Tyczinski told us she keeps an ongoing "laundry list" of trends at other municipalities across the province, including findings from investigations by the Ontario Ombudsman and reports from the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario.

"The confidentiality stuff is more about trends across the province," she said, referring to recent breaches of confidentiality at other municipalities.

Her recommended changes include clarifying that anonymous letters sent to the city will be essentially ignored: not distributed to councillors and not maintained as official records.

They also would require that any electronic devices used by councillors be placed on an inaudible setting during any open or closed meeting, and that no member use an electronic device to broadcast, record or otherwise publish or distribute audio or video of any open or closed meeting, nor photographs of any closed meeting.

Council members would be prohibited from using "offensive words or unparliamentary language."

The following requirements would apply to every petition submitted to the city:

• the petition must be addressed to the city and request a particular action within the authority of council
• the petition must be legible, typewritten or printed in ink
• the petition must be appropriate and not contain improper language
• each signatory must print and sign their own name
• a paper petition must contain original signatures only, written directly on the petition
• for electronic petitions, each signatory must provide their name, address and a valid email address