City Council agendas are again being released to the public on Fridays. This follows two months during which the release was delayed three days until the Monday prior to the meeting.
Using the City definition, this is a rollback in transparency.
The withholding of public agendas was one of the weirder decisions at City Hall this spring during a period in which Council promised a new era of transparency after the Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin slammed them for improper in-camera meetings.
It seemed the definition of “transparency” used by Council was the same as their infamous “accountability and transparency” sub-committee.
The delay started Easter Weekend when City staff decided to withhold the agenda over the long weekend and only make it public the day prior to the Council meeting. I noted this here.
The response from City Hall? From that point forward, all releases would occur after weekends, not before as had been practice for as long as anyone could remember. I protested this blatantly anti-transparent move. I emailed Council on a regular basis and made a point of noting this blatantly conflicted with their promises of transparency.
It appears the message was received.
So, with Council agendas being released on-time again, I’ll turn my attention back to getting the “accountability and transparency” sub-committee to be both transparent and accountable. Wish me luck…. I’ll need it.
This week’s