Changes for regional council to wait until after election

Plan which could ban some delegations will be decided by next council

It will be up to the next Niagara Region council to decide whether it wants to revamp its procedural bylaws.

A special procedural bylaw review committee, which began its task in January on rules for how the council conducts its meetings and business, recommended changes that set some restrictions on who can address council and the subject matter.

However, amendments didn’t have enough support to pass at last week’s council meeting, which means this council, and the incoming one that will be selected by residents in the Oct. 24 municipal election, will work under established rules.

Many of the adjustments, such as changing an agenda title from “new business” to “announcements” or setting new deadlines for councillors to submit motions, didn’t engender much discussion.

However, councillors were concerned about one of the sections that would have permitted the chief administrative officer, clerk and legal counsel, in consultation with the chair, to bar a delegation if the person or group is “likely to engage in unreasonable or offensive conduct, make unreasonable or offensive statements or demands, repeatedly speak on a subject matter that is not within the Region’s jurisdiction or otherwise misuse the privilege of addressing committee or council.”

The draft bylaw stated that would only be used in “exceptional circumstances,” and the delegate could appeal the decision to the full council.

However, St. Catharines resident Bryan Blue said the section undermines council’s strategic priorities, which are built upon accountability, diversity, inclusivity, integrity, openness and transparency.

“Unfortunately, some of your predecessors have tainted the good reputation of a lot of upstanding elected representatives, which left a bad taste in the mouths of citizens,” Blue said.

Blue pointed out that in a matter of weeks, Niagara will have a new regional council.

“Who is to say that the incoming representatives will have the same level of integrity and ethics that many of you show and many of us look for in our representatives.”

St. Catharines Coun. Mat Siscoe tried to salvage the rest of the changes by referring the contentious section back to the corporate service committee to get a better definition of the term “exceptional circumstances.”

That way, the rest of the bylaw could proceed as is. Council approved Siscoe’s motion but the vote on the rest of the changes failed.

St. Catharines Coun. Mike Britton said he couldn’t support amendments that limit the ability of residents to address councillors.

Blue was also concerned new rules reduced the time limit on delegations to five minutes from 10.

“That is a 50 per cent reduction,” Blue said. “Delegates invest a significant amount of time and effort in presentations based on any combination of research, lived experience or professional expertise to provide counsel with diverse and valuable perspectives that help you make informed decisions.

“Five minutes is simply not enough to clearly speak to complex issues that are important to the community as a whole.”