The township of Emo has been found to have violated a section of the Ontario Municipal Act.
Ontario’s Ombudsman says the township failed to state by resolution what was to be discussed during a closed-door meeting on June 23, 2020.
The Ombudsman initially was acting on a complaint that discussion relating to a ‘Council Code of Conduct’ did not fall under the reasons to go in-camera.
In his ruling, the Ombudsman found “council’s discussion was permissible under the Municipal Act’s closed meeting exception for personal matters about an identifiable individual,” but contravened the Act “by failing to state by resolution the general nature of the matters to be considered in camera.”
The agenda for the June meeting does state three items were to be discussed that included “personal matters regarding an identifiable individual” regarding two staffing positions and the Council Code of Conduct matter.