Committee Meeting Videos Not Available Afterward

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Videos of meetings increase transparency and accountability but, according to deputy clerk Tammy Fowkes, “Currently, it is only Council meetings that have the IT resources to create and publish the videos.

The minutes are the official records for both Council and Committee meetings.  The Town does go a step above for Committee meetings and records the audio to be placed on the website.  Technical requirements to produce videos for each Committee meeting is very involved and requires many resources that are currently not available.”

The audios, if they’re posted, create barriers when members mute the audio, the audio is a poor quality, and members do not identify themselves. What accommodations are in place for people who are deaf, deafened or hard of hearing?

No Link To Committee Meetings – Workaround

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Municipal Act 239 (1) Except as provided in this section, all meetings shall be open to the public.  2001, c. 25, s. 239 (1). Municipal Act

Adoption of policies

270 (1) A municipality shall adopt and maintain policies with respect to 5. The manner in which the municipality will try to ensure that it is accountable to the public for its actions, and the manner in which the municipality will try to ensure that its actions are transparent to the public.

Transparency and accountability are not possible if no links are provided and people are unaware of the steps they need to take when the town does not post links to view meetings.

An example of no link posted on Amherstburg.ca: click on picture to view full screen.

The Town of Amherstburg’s Transparency and Accountability Policy contains definitions:

4.1.  Accountability in this policy refers to the principle that the Town is obligated to demonstrate and take responsibility for its actions, decision and policies.

4.8.  Transparency means how outside parties, such as the public, are able to observe how the decisions of Council, Staff, Committees and Local Boards are made. The Town of Amherstburg actively encourages and fosters stakeholder engagement in its decision making process.

Workaround:

Locate the date of the meeting in the council/committee calendar section of the town’s website.

Click on the html link of the Agenda column; it’s faster to load than the pdf.

Select/highlight https://www.amherstburg.ca/livestream.

Right click and choose options to open in new tab, new window or copy and paste into browser.

Amherstburg To Get Long Term Care

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Budget approved in principle; 2.36 per cent tax increase

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Amherstburg town council has approved in principle a 2022 budget with an overall tax rate increase of 2.36 per cent. The increase represents an additional property tax of $38.82 per $100,000 of a home’s assessed value.

Highlights of the budget include a climate change adaptation plan, a transit pilot project, addition of a road operator to enhance delivery of road maintenance services, transportation master plan, water/wastewater rate model study, water/wastewater infrastructure master plan, asset management plan update and the return of recreation and tourism programming and events.