A former member of Grey County council has suggested the current council held an improper closed session meeting in August.
Alar Soever, former mayor of the Town of The Blue Mountains and county council member, recently sent letters to his local council and to Grey County council saying that a joint county meeting with the nine local municipal councils was held improperly.
The virtual meeting, hosted by Grey County, was held on Aug. 8 and was attended by elected officials and staff from all nine local municipalities. The meeting was held to discuss “shared service delivery and service efficiencies.”
Shortly after Warden Brian Milne convened the meeting, a motion was passed to proceed into closed session.
After the meeting concluded, the county sent out a brief news release advising the public that it and the nine local municipalities are considering an initiative that would see planning services possibly consolidated and delivered by the county.
“Inappropriate matters were discussed in the closed session and the meeting was improperly held,” Soever says in his letter addressed to Grey County council.
The county claims the closed meeting followed the rules of the Municipal Act.
The agenda for the Aug. 8 meeting stated the closed session involved discussions about "labour relations or employee negotiations and advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege (shared service delivery and service efficiencies)."
Rob Hatten, communications manager for Grey County, said Soever’s letter would be on the agenda for council’s meeting on Oct. 10.
“The joint meeting held in August was an effective way to communicate with all member municipalities at the same time and it was conducted in a closed session in compliance with the Municipal Act,” Hatten said in an email. “We will be able to speak more to the letter once council has addressed it in October.”
Soever also states in his letter that he believes the county is not following its own procedures and practices on the shared planning service initiative.
His letter notes that in 2013 Grey County council passed a resolution adopting the County of Grey Collaborative Decision-making Framework that sets a formal process for how new initiatives at the county are to be handled.
Soever claimed the meeting was "not in keeping" with the framework.
In his letter to The Blue Mountains council, Soever requests the town’s accountability and transparency committee to investigate the issue.
In both letters, he asks that a second meeting, open to the public, be held.
“Hold a second, open meeting to correct the error of holding an improper closed meeting,” said Soever.
The letter also states that he will file a complaint with the Ombudsman of Ontario if action is not taken on the matter.
The Aug. 8 joint meeting appeared as an agenda item on county council’s committee of the whole meeting on Sept. 12.
At that time, council passed a resolution requesting feedback about the shared planning services model from local municipalities by Oct. 18.
