What goes on behind closed doors at municipal council meetings?

by Roger Stonebanks, citizen journalist

The topics are limited and spelled out in the Community Charter which starts with the premise that all council meetings are open to the public – except for the listed subjects.

The process of reporting publicly from in-camera meetings is being streamlined or formalized in Saanich which in turn has raised the question – what happens when the public is excluded?

Saanich Coun. Colin Plant told Saanich Voice Online that “the vast majority of business is conducted in the public realm. The  colloquial phrase ‘legal, lands and labour’ are the main reasons why we typically go into an in-camera session.”

The Community Charter (Division 3) rules that council meetings “must be open to the public” but they may be closed if the subject relates to 15 topics (for example – personnel matters, litigation, land acquisition, disposal or expropriation) – and must be closed if it relates to five more topics – for example, negotiations between the municipality and a provincial or the federal government. (See our online story for links to the Community Charter.)

In Saanich, the director of legislative services, Carrie MacPhee, recommended in a report to council that a new category be
added to the Council Procedure Bylaw called “Rise and Report from In Camera Meeting.” She said, “This addition will provide a more formal process for the reporting out, as appropriate, of motions from meetings closed to the public.” Previously, decisions would be “reported” more informally and were included in the Minutes of an open council meeting but without the formality of “Rise and Report.”

“Anything we can do to help the public have more faith in their local government without contravening the Community Charter is something we should do,” said Plant, who moved a motion to approve the staff recommendation.

The term “Rise and Report,” he said, is “used to describe what is shared (allowed to be shared) publicly after an in-camera meeting. Some members of the public have concerns about in-camera meetings because they do not know what is specifically discussed during an in-camera meeting. However, we always state the reasons (as per the Community Charter) before going in-camera even if the public is not present.”

Plant said there will be, on each in-camera meeting agenda, “a section called Rise and Report. This will be reviewed at each in-camera meeting. Some meetings will see us rising and reporting and others will not.”