City councillors have directed staff to look at revisions to the city’s release of in camera information policy.
At the March 2 committee of the whole meeting, councillors reviewed correspondence Powell River resident Pat Martin regarding release of city council’s in camera resolutions and minutes. Martin has been critical of council for not updating a section of the city’s website titled in camera reports released to the public. The section has not been updated since 2016.
“Six years of no releases of in camera matters equals no effort made by council and/or staff, equals no openness and accountability, equals no respect for the taxpayer,” stated Martin. “Regardless of staff workloads, the city has an obligation to the public to release in camera documentation in a timely manner – an obligation ignored for six years. We are asking that you fulfill this requirement as soon as possible. Will council commit to having this work completed by May 31, 2021?”
Councillor Rob Southcott said it was clear that he and Martin did not agree on various matters. He said there was one glaring error in the letter from Martin, and that was regarding the six years of no releases of in camera information.
“That’s completely incorrect,” said Southcott. “I am convinced that there have been many releases of in camera information.” He asked corporate officer Chris Jackson to correct him if he was in error.
Jackson said the city often issues news releases or announcements through the rise and report process at city council pertaining to in camera items. He said information has been released; it just hasn’t been put on the website.
Councillor Maggie Hathaway said she didn’t think council is prepared to commit to the date Martin specified because there are capacity issues to carry out this work. She said the city does not want to get the work done by creating another staff position, which could cause increases in taxes.
“Many items that go in camera are released immediately because that’s the whole idea,” said Hathaway. “There’s a lot that comes out right away.”
Councillor CaroleAnn Leishman said there are different ways of conveying in camera meetings. qathet Regional District, in the previous week, had an in camera session, and then after the closed meeting, had a rise and report on 12 items.
“It happens right after the in camera meeting so in the public perception it becomes very clear that all of these items just came out of in camera,” said Leishman. “We [the city] do it a little differently, often through news releases, which don’t say the matter was discussed at an in camera meeting.
“I went through our in camera agendas and there’s tonnes of things that are out in the public realm, but we didn’t say this came out of in camera.”
Mayor suggests tweaking policy
Mayor Dave Formosa said maybe staff could be asked to update the rise and report policy, whereby when council comes out of in camera, there is an out of camera rise and report. He said every six months, the corporate officer or deputy corporate officer could possibly review the in camera files and look for items that should be released.
“Maybe we could tweak the policy,” said Formosa. “I wonder what the corporate officer thinks of that?”
Jackson said council has a policy for routine release of closed resolutions and related documents and could make additions. He said the mayor had suggested a review of every six months so that is the type of item that could be incorporated.
Jackson said when he worked in Nanaimo, there were similar requests for dealing with information from in camera meetings and it was time consuming, but a system was developed. Additions to the existing policy might be helpful, he said.
Councillor George Doubt said there had been a lot of points made about release of information and a couple of fresh examples are the sale of the Cranberry firehall and various appointments to committees released from in camera.
“What’s really missing is a clear statement that this was discussed at an in camera meeting and it’s now being made public,” said Doubt. “It’s up to council to take action to release these things as quickly as possible.
“Councillor Leishman talks about how the regional district does it, which is releasing those things as quickly as possible. Getting things out there quickly, it would help ease people’s minds and help them realize that business in those in camera meetings is not as exciting as some people think.”
Councillor Cindy Elliott said media releases from the city should identify items that were in camera items so people know when that happens.
Formosa said he is hoping the committee will consent to revising the policy, then the public can see the city has done its best to listen.
Council gave unanimous consent for staff to come back to councillors with an adjusted policy.
