Council meetings are generally held the first and third Tuesdays of each month, with a Planning meeting the fourth Tuesday. Agenda packages are prepared and ready for Council the Friday before each meeting.
All council meetings are
open to the public, but anyone wishing to be a delegation at a meeting must make the
request to the Clerk and provide any material to be included in the agenda package no later than
NOON Thursday prior to the meeting. The Clerk has the authority to remove the delegation from the agenda if the
delegation request form and supporting material is not received by noon on the Thursday immediately preceding the council meeting (Resolution # 11-171)
Delegations are usually limited to a maximum of three and are given approximately 15 minutes to make their presentation to Council.
Minutes are taken at each meeting, reviewed and passed at the next meeting of council. Once they have been approved by Council, they are signed and placed in the minute book as well as on the Town's website.
Motion, Resolutions and By-Laws
The powers of the Town of Erin Council are exercised by either resolution or By-Law of Council. It is often difficult to decide the exact areas to be covered by these two forms of Council action. Therefore it is important to know when a resolution will suffice and when a By-Law is required. The courts have held that where an action is a legislative act, a By-Law is necessary, but where an action involves discharging a statutory responsibility and a By-Law is not specified, then a resolution will be sufficient.
There is also often considerable confusion between the terms "motion" and "resolution". Many government bodies use the terms interchangeably. The following definitions, however, provide a clear distinction between the two:
What is a Motion?
A motion is an expression of wishes of Council or Committee that has been submitted for consideration. It is a proposal by a member in a meeting, that Council or Committee resolve and effect a decision.
What is a Resolution?
A resolution is a motion that has been adopted by majority vote. It is the decision of Council on any motion or Committee recommendation.
What is a By-Law?
In contrast with a resolution, By-Laws are the municipal equivalent of legislation and are required where the power exercised is applicable on a continuing basis and pertains to everyone (i.e.: water rate By-Law or issuance of debentures).
By-laws are numbered using the year that they were passed along with their own number i.e. By-Law # 08 - 14 was passed in 2008 and is the 14th by-law to be passed that year.
When looking up by-laws in the "Forms and Documents" centre please note that the most recently passed by-law amends previous years' by-laws. The previous years' by-laws are for reference only.
The Town of Erin utilizes and passes a confirming By-Law at the end of each Council meeting, prior to adjournment. The purpose of this By-Law is to adopt, ratify, and confirm each recommendation contained in the committee reports of Council and all other resolutions and actions taken by Council at that meeting. In enacting a confirming By-Law, Council is authorizing the Town official to take action necessary to give effect to the actions taken at that meeting. This includes obtaining approvals where required and executing all documents. The advantage of the use of a confirming By-Law is that it greatly streamlines the work of Council in reviewing By-Laws. An administrative efficiency is also achieved by reducing the number of By-Laws that must be prepared, reviewed and printed by staff.
Municipal Act Closed Meeting Rules
The Province has set the rules for a council, local board or a committee to go into a closed meeting. Any person or corporation may request that an investigation be undertaken repecting whether the closed meeting rules have been complied with in accordance with the current legislation.
Why are some meeting closed to the public?
Municipal councils, local boards and their committees must meet behind closed doors on occasion to deal with some matters. For example, if a municipality is being sued or if Council is considering purchasing a piece of land or if Council must deal with a labour relations issue then it is appropriate that it be able to do so at a closed meeting. The purpose of such a closed meeting is to receive information or give direction.
Local government in Ontario must be transparent and accountable. To this end, the Province has set the rules for a council, local board or a committee to go into a closed meeting. These rules are found in section 239 of the Municipal Act 2001, as amemded. They must be strictly followed.
The permitted reasons for going into a closed meeting are:
- The security of property of the municipality or local board;
- Personal matters about an identifiable individual including employees;
- A proposed or pending acquisition or disposition of land;
- Labour relations or employee negotiations;
- Litigation or potential litigation, including matters before administrative trubunals, affecting the municipality of local board;
- Advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose;
- A matter in respect of which a council, board, committee or other body may hold a closed meeting under another act;
- If the subject matter relates to the consideration of a request under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act;
- The meeting is held for educating and training and no member discusses or deals with a matter in a way that materially advances the business decision-making of the council or local board.
Background
As of January 1, 2008 any person or corporation will be able to request that an investigation be undertaken respecting whether a municipality or local board, or a committee of either, has complied with closed meeting rules outlined in the Municipal Act, 2001 or the applicable procedural by-law.
Through Local Authority Services Ltd, the Town of Erin has engaged the services of Amberley Gavel Ltd, as the Municipal Closed Meeting Investigator and has authorized it to conduct investigations upon receipt of a complaint in respect of meetings or parts of meetings that are closed to the public. The Investigator will determine compliance with the Act or the applicable procedural by-law with respect to closed meetings and will report on the results of such investigations.
In the Town of Erin, the meetings of the bodies to which this legislation apples are Council, Centre 2000 Management Committee; Economic Development Committee, Environmental Committee, Heritage Committee, Ballinafad Community Centre Advisory Committee, Recreation Committee, Erin Cinema Committee, Business Improvement Advisory Committee, Committee of Adjustment, Let's Get Hillsburgh Growing Committee, Property Standards Committee; and Vicious Dog Committee.
Complaint Procedure
Complaints may be submitted on the established
complaint form or via written request. The complaint form may be printed from the website or can be obtained from the Town Clerk. All complaints must be submitted in a sealed envelope marked
“private and confidential” and contain the following information:
1. Name of municipality
2. Complainant’s name, mailing address, telephone number and e-mail address (if applicable)
3. Date of closed meeting under consideration
4. Nature and background of the particular occurrence
5. Any activities undertaken (if any) to resolve the concern
6. Any other relevant information
7. Original signature
Complaints may be submitted by mail or delivery directly to:
Town of Erin
5684 Trafalgar Rd., R. R. # 2
Hillsburgh, ON NOB 1Z0
ATT: Town Clerk