Generally, the powers of your municipality must be exercised by council by bylaw. Bylaws are passed at council meetings. Central parts of council decision making – including deliberation and voting – take place there. This makes it important that council meetings be properly called and organized, and that proper procedures be followed.
The effective and efficient conduct of meetings can help move the business of council along in a timely manner. One of the roles of the head of council is to act as the presiding officer (sometimes called chairperson) at council meetings, although council may assign this duty to another member of council with the consent of the head of council. The presiding officer is often responsible for following the agenda, preserving order, and enforcing any rules of procedure council may have adopted. Presiding officers (and other members) may wish to consider the following suggestions to help in chairing meetings more effectively:
• be aware of the rules of procedure, be timely, be impartial, be firm; • prepare for the meeting by reviewing the entire agenda package; and • recognize that the presiding officer is a member of council:
o he or she may wish to vote on questions being addressed by
council;
o he or she may wish to temporarily step down as presiding officer
during a meeting to debate an item on the agenda; and
o respecting and communicating decisions that are made by
Council meetings are customarily either regular or special. Although the frequency of regular meetings is up to council, they are usually held at regular intervals and at locations set out in the procedural bylaw. An exception is the date of council’s first meeting after an election, which is regulated by section 230 of the Act.
As noted above, section 238 requires both municipalities and local boards to have procedure bylaws to govern the calling, place and proceedings of their meetings including many of their committee meetings. Procedure bylaws must also provide for public notice of those meetings. The content of the procedure bylaw is generally up to the council.
Section 239 requires the decisions, resolutions and other proceedings at a meeting to be recorded regardless of whether the meeting is open or closed to the public. The municipal clerk or another appropriate officer must make these records of municipal meetings.
Section 240 of the Act provides for special meetings to be called, subject to the municipality’s procedural bylaw. For example, the clerk might call a special meeting upon receipt of a petition from a majority of councillors. Many municipalities require a minimum notice period for holding a special meeting, with the time, location and purpose of the meeting clearly stated in the notice.
Open and Closed Meetings: Public Business
The Act includes provisions related to the transparency and accountability of council as well as its local boards and committees, including the conduct of meetings and the public’s right to attend them. Transparent decision making processes may be seen as part of the foundation of the good governance of a municipality.
A key transparency rule for municipalities is the requirement that most
municipal meetings be open to the public. There are only a limited number of exceptions, for consideration of matters such as litigation, or personal matters about an identifiable individual.
See section 239 of the Act for more information about open meetings requirements: http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_ statutes_01m25_e.htm#BK289.
The term “meeting” is partly defined in the Act, which currently provides that a meeting “means any regular, special or other meeting of a council, of a local board or of a committee of either of them.” The definition is not the complete picture, however. When your council or board is making its decision about whether a gathering of its members is a “meeting”, it may wish to keep in mind, among other things, the following important considerations:
• Is the subject matter of the meeting something traditionally municipal or something municipalities make decisions about?
• Are municipal resources being used?
• How many members or staff are present and what is their role? • The importance of transparency in municipal decision making
Examples of considerations, sometimes called formalities, which may be less important include: whether the gathering was called a “meeting” or some other term (e.g. “‘workshop”); the premises where it takes place; whether it is within or outside the municipality.
Under sections 239.1 and 239.2 of the Act, a person may request an investigation of whether a closed meeting complied with the Act or a
municipality’s procedure bylaw. The municipality may appoint an independent investigator who may report with recommendations to council. If the
municipality does not appoint an investigator, the Ontario Ombudsman may investigate.
Police services, library and school boards have different rules about their meetings, which are found in other legislation.
Quorum
A quorum is often understood to mean the minimum number of members needed to conduct business at a meeting. See section 237 of the Act for more information about quorum requirements for municipal councils: http://www.e- laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_01m25_e.htm#BK285. Generally (there are exceptions) a quorum is a majority of members.
Quorum may be affected by members’ declarations of pecuniary interest, where they may have a personal financial interest in the matter. Members may be ineligible to vote at or participate in a meeting because of a declaration of pecuniary interest (see section 5 of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act): http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_90m50_e. htm.
However, if, because of declarations, there is not a quorum of members for a meeting, the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act makes the remaining number of members at the meeting a quorum. The remaining number must not be less than two (see section 7 of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act).
An application to court to address the matter may be possible if the remaining number of members is less than two (see section 7 of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act).
Finally, if council is unable to hold a meeting for a period of 60 days or more, because of a failure to obtain a quorum, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing may declare all the members’ seats vacant and a by-election shall be held (more information may be found in section 266 of the Municipal Act: http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_01m25_e. htm#BK320.