Council to get ‘refresher’ on private meeting rules
Posted Aug 8, 2011 05:43:42 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Regional councillors will get some clarification this week on when they should meet in private, when they shouldn’t and what actually constitutes a “meeting.”
HRM director of legal services Mary Ellen Donovan will present a report at tomorrow’s council meeting clarifying the rules surrounding meetings between councillors and proponents of projects.
Metro Halifax reports Coun. Jennifer Watts (Connaught-Quinpool) asked for the report to clarify when an informal meeting becomes an actual meeting and whether meeting with project proponents could be considered “prejudicial.”
The report suggests any time councillors are discussing an imminent decision, they should do it in public. It also recommends not meeting with project proponents once public hearings are wrapped up, saying the optics are “very challenging.”
