Last Monday, December 2, council voted unanimously to take governance training into a closed session. In an unusual process, the vote taken at the 5:30 p.m. Special Council Meeting was called without opportunity for councillors to comment or question.
The agenda posted at 4:30 p.m. on Friday listed the only business item, “Councillor Training – Mid Term Review.”
December 2: More information requested. No reply from council
Late Monday evening, ElliotLakeToday reached out to the council with questions about the mid-term review closed session.
Noting that the agenda item was a “may” (not “shall’) go into closed session, we asked why the training was taken into a closed session.
We also asked, “The agenda motion says that this training was ‘under the advice of the solicitor.’ Did the solicitor suggest the training? If not, who initiated this training? What reason was given?”
No one on council responded by the time of publication today.
What is ‘mid term training’?
Because ElliotLakeToday was unable to find a previous “mid-term review” during the past approximately 10 years, we reached out to the clerk for more information.
The clerk responded, “While a mid-term review may not have been conducted regularly in the past, it is considered a best practice to periodically refresh and review the roles and responsibilities of elected officials. […] This review simply builds on the initial training they received at the beginning of their term and provides a chance to address any new insights or concerns that may have emerged.”
Council’s initial training was delivered by the Integrity Commissioner and also the City Solicitor in open session, December 12, 2022. The archived video is here.
The 2022 initial training meeting, also included a separate item taken into a closed session, “Update from City Solicitor Re: Litigation Updates.”
Mayor’s comments after the closed session
Following a more than two-hour closed session, council emerged and Mayor Andrew Wannan informed:
“So, I just have a quick summary. We had an excellent training session. Mr. Mascarin is a dynamic presenter.
“For most of us up here, two years on council, Councillor Lefebvre joined in April, but I think we all took away quite a bit more during this session after gaining our experience that we have.
“[The closed session] opened our eyes to a few things, you know, and then, you know, just confirmed that we're on the right path.
“We have not been in trouble with the Ombudsman - or sorry, well, we kind of have been with the Ombudsman - with the Integrity Commissioner as of yet, and I think some of the topics we discussed, especially with budget coming up and everything, that we are continuing on the right track with that. And I think we all had that in mind when we ran, that that would not be happening. So, just like to thank Mr. Mascarin once again.”
When he concluded, Mayor Wannan offered the councillors an opportunity to comment.
None of the councillors spoke.
‘Well, we kind of have been [in trouble] with the Ombudsman’ – Wannan
Last February, in a report to Elliot Lake city council, the Ombudsman observed that close session business should be separated to allow discussion in open session for those parts of a topic that could be discussed in an open session. The report is here.
The report from the Ombudsman said a closed meeting “contravened the open meeting rules on January 30, when council discussed the City’s organizational chart in closed session.”
“Council could have realistically received the information about the organizational chart and staff roles covered in the first part of the discussion in open session, and then moved into closed session to hold the second part of the discussion about reorganization.”
September 25: Councillor asks, ‘Why is this going into closed, if I may ask?’ No additional information offered
At the Special Council meeting of September 25 - a meeting to consider a contract for the arena roof, Councillor Rick Bull inquired, “I don't know who to ask the question to, but why is this going into closed session, if I may ask? Not to get into specifics, but just in general.”
To Bull’s question, Interim CAO Rob deBortoli responded: “Well, I can defer it to the clerk, but I think the definition and the rationale for going into closed session has been presented on the agenda.” The agenda is here.
No other information was offered to council.
The video archive of the Bull and deBortoli exchange is here.
ElliotLakeToday will update this story with more information when relevant information is received from city council.
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'We'll try to do better' Mayor to Ombudsman on closed meeting
EDITOR'S NOTE: The original version of this story mistakenly reported we received notice of the agenda being posted three hours before the meeting when, in fact, it was posted on Nov. 29, not Dec. 2. ElliotLakeToday apologizes for any inconvenience our error may have caused.