Timmins City Council is facing a few complaints from the Ontario Ombudsman for their in-camera meetings. Ombusdman Paul Dube found that council disobeyed the Municipal Act in two cases filed in September 2015.
Mayor Steve Black says one of the complaints regarded a meeting on the performer negotiations for Stars and Thunder. Black states this was information that couldn’t be released publicly and the ombusman office agreed. He says Timmins isn’t the only community that had complaints for this kind of in-camera meeting.
Black says he has no issues with the report but is happy that the ombudsman office is looking into bring forward provincial legislation to allow municipalities to have these kinds of meetings without the public being involved. He says otherwise there is no way to keep council informed as to how negotiations are doing other than one-on-one discussions outside the council chambers.
Council will review the ombudsman report at their next council meeting.