Council Report: Ministerial Order No. M192 – Open Meetings Public Attendance

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT Council, pursuant to Ministerial Order No. M192 of the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General passed June 17, 2020, authorize that until there are changes to the restrictions on gatherings and social distancing requirements, all open meetings of Council, including Committee of the Whole, shall be conducted without members of the public present in Council Chambers;

AND THAT openness, transparency, accessibility, and accountability of these meetings are ensured through the following means:

1. live webcasting to see and hear the meeting available through a link on the Town of View Royal website;
2. live interaction in the meeting via real-time telephone conference for Public Participation and Question Period;
3. participation in the meeting via interactive chat for Public Participation and Question Period;
4. provision of a newspaper notice of the meeting;
5. accommodating Petitions and Delegations by audio only or pre-arranged live video presentation;
6. accommodating applicants/consultants by audio only or pre-arranged live video presentation;
7. making the meeting agenda available on the Town of View Royal website
8. accepting written correspondence up to 3:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting for inclusion on the agenda;
9. posting recorded webcast meeting on View Royal’s website after the meeting; and
10. posting draft minutes as soon as possible after the meeting.

PURPOSE OF REPORT:

To seek a resolution of Council in compliance with Ministerial Order No. M192.

BACKGROUND:

At its March 17, 2020 meeting, Council passed the following motion:

THAT the regularly scheduled Council meetings for the first Tuesday of each month and the Advisory Committee meetings not be held at this time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (C-46-20)

Soon afterwards – March 26 – the Provincial government came out Ministerial Order No. M083 intended to guide and assist local governments through the early days of the novel coronavirus pandemic. M083 authorized local governments to:

a.) conduct electronic meetings in the absence of a pre-existing bylaw to hold such meetings;
b.) undertake all three readings and adoption of a bylaw at one meeting; and
c.) hold a council meeting without the public present.

M083 was intended to be a tool for local governments to facilitate timely decision-making and to provide flexibility in procedures. View Royal Council held its first electronic meeting – its first meeting since March 17, 2020 – under the provisions of M083 on April 14.

Council revised its meeting schedule on April 21, reverting back to only regularly scheduled Council meetings on the first and third Tuesday of each month during the pandemic (C-53-20).

At the same meeting, Council approved the expenditure of up to $37,500 to facilitate the acquisition and installation of electronic meeting tools in Council Chambers (C-58-20). Since that date, the Director of Finance/IT has been working diligently on this initiative with live meeting webcasting anticipated for the July 7 public hearing and Council meeting.

On May 1, the Provincial government replaced M083 with Ministerial Order No. M139 (see Attachment “A”). M139 extended the provisions described in M083 to improvement districts and the Islands Trust and added an eagerly awaited provision regarding public hearings.

The Town’s first public hearing under M139 was held via teleconference on June 16.

DISCUSSION:

On June 17, the Provincial government replaced M139 with Ministerial Order No. M192 (see Attachment “B”).

M192 adds several new provisions around open meetings and electronic meetings and reintroduces limitations on the timing requirements of bylaw passage for some bylaws.

Specific to open meeting provisions, M192 places an onus on local governments to consider and, where practical, to implement a return to in-person public attendance at council meetings and where that is not practical, to pass a resolution outlining the ways in which the municipality complies with open meeting requirements.

When the Public Health Officer (PHO) prohibited gatherings of more than fifty people and when the physical distancing recommendations were established, most local governments eliminated in-person attendance at council meetings given how difficult it is to predict how many people may wish to attend a meeting. This prohibition is still in place as are the physical distancing recommendations.

If we are to set aside the issue of PHO order regarding gatherings in excess of fifty people and consider only the physical distancing requirements, the capacity of Chambers is twenty people total. This count must include Council and staff leaving approximately ten spots available for non-Council and staff members. While ten spaces may seem sufficient, if in-person attendance is permitted, there would need to also be spaces set aside for registered Petitions and Delegations as well as applicants/consultants, resulting in far fewer spaces available for the general public to attend.

An uneven playing field with potential for comments from the public about transparency may be created with only ten spots or fewer available for the public to attend in-person. For example:

• How would the extremely limited number of spaces be allocated: First come, first served or pre-register up to a set capacity or pre-register with lottery if in excess of capacity express an interest in attending?
• How frequently could someone attend in-person?
• Does the person wishing to attend have to have an intention to participate at either Public Participation or Question Period to attend?

There are also procedural concerns as equality amongst participants is not achieved – this is particularly a concern in a public hearing situation where legal advice points to the need for participants to be able hear each others’ comments (and provide their own) and at all meetings (not just public hearings) should the public be in attendance when the free flow of information is interrupted continually as people are marshalled in and out and extensive cleaning protocols between speakers are undertaken by additional staff brought in to clean and marshal (further reducing the number of public able to attend).

The limit on gatherings to less than fifty people and the physical distancing requirements are significant impediments to in-person attendance at this time. With the move to live webcasting set for July 7 – which will allow live interaction in the meeting via real-time telephone conference and interactive chat for Public Participation and Question Period plus accommodates Petitions and Delegations and applicants/consultants to present during the meeting by audio only or with pre-arranged live video presentation, staff recommend that Council continue to hold meetings without members of the public in attendance. The principles of openness, transparency, accessibility, and accountability are ensured by the following means:

1. live webcasting to see and hear the meeting available through a link on the Town of View Royal website;
2. live interaction in the meeting via real-time telephone conference for Public Participation and Question Period;
3. participation in the meeting via interactive chat for Public Participation and Question Period;
4. provision of a newspaper notice of the meeting;
5. accommodating Petitions and Delegations by audio only or pre-arranged live video presentation;
6. accommodating applicants/consultants by audio only or pre-arranged live video presentation;
7. making the meeting agenda available on the Town of View Royal website
8. accepting written correspondence up to 3:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting for inclusion on the agenda;
9. posting recorded webcast meeting on View Royal’s website after the meeting; and
10. posting draft minutes as soon as possible after the meeting.

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT Council, pursuant to Ministerial Order No. M192 of the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General passed June 17, 2020, authorize that until there are changes to the restrictions on gatherings and social distancing requirements, all open meetings of Council, including Committee of the Whole, shall be conducted without members of the public present in Council Chambers;

AND THAT openness, transparency, accessibility, and accountability of these meetings are ensured through the following means:

1. live webcasting to see and hear the meeting available through a link on the Town of View Royal website;
2. live interaction in the meeting via real-time telephone conference for Public Participation and Question Period;
3. participation in the meeting via interactive chat for Public Participation and Question Period;
4. provision of a newspaper notice of the meeting;
5. accommodating Petitions and Delegations by audio only or pre-arranged live video presentation;
6. accommodating applicants/consultants by audio only or pre-arranged live video presentation;
7. making the meeting agenda available on the Town of View Royal website
8. accepting written correspondence up to 3:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting for inclusion on the agenda;
9. posting recorded webcast meeting on View Royal’s website after the meeting; and
10. posting draft minutes as soon as possible after the meeting.

SUBMITTED BY:

S. Jones, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer