The Ombudsman found that the Municipality of West Elgin did not provide meaningful notice of its council meetings on September 22, September 28, and October 16, 2023, as the meetings were advertised as hybrid or electronic only, but no link was provided for the public to access the livestream of the meetings. This resulted in the meetings being effectively closed to the public contrary to the open meeting rules in the Municipal Act, 2001.
Municipality of West Elgin, December 13, 2024
Read the ReportThe Ombudsman found that the Municipality of West Elgin’s emergency council meeting held on September 22, 2023 did not meet the criteria under the municipality’s procedural by-law for an emergency meeting and therefore public notice was required. In addition, the Ombudsman found that the municipality did not provide meaningful notice, as the meeting was advertised as electronic but no link was provided for the public to access a livestream of the meeting. This resulted in the meeting being effectively closed to the public contrary to the open meeting rules in the Municipal Act, 2001.
Municipality of West Elgin, September 7, 2023
Read the LetterThe Ombudsman found that a council meeting was improperly closed when members of the public could not access the live broadcast after council returned to open session from a closed session. Members of the public could attend the meeting both in person and electronically, though only individuals attending the meeting in person were able to observe the second open portion of the meeting.
A municipality advertised a meeting as hybrid in its meeting notice, indicating that members of the public could attend both in person or electronically. The Ombudsman found that the municipality must ensure that members of the public can observe all open sessions both in person and virtually.