Concern about open meeting rules forced the sudden cancellation of a planned question and answer session between city councillors and the leadership of London Middlesex Community Housing (LMCH).
“If we came to that [meeting], we would be in violation of our open meeting and integrity requirements. So, I thought it was really inappropriate,” Coun. Sam Trosow told CTV News.
Earlier this week, city councillors were emailed an invitation from LMCH administration that read in part, “This will be a closed meeting not open to the public. This Q and A session will be an opportunity to ask questions and discuss topics that are important to you and your constituents.”
According to the Municipal Act, confidential committee meetings can only be held behind closed doors to discuss a short list of topics including real estate transactions, personnel matters, and legal advice.
Any gathering that advances municipal business by a quorum (minimum number of members) of a committee is defined as a meeting.
“They’ve got people on the [LMCH] board who are councillors or former councillors, they should know better than that,” Trosow added.
“The suggestion that it be closed was not to hide information,” explained Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis, who sits on the LMCH board. “It was to protect individual tenants from having their personal situations shared far and wide.”
Lewis said the meeting was to educate councillors about LMCH properties in their wards and the agency’s processes, specifically how it addresses situations that are often the subject of tenants’ complaints to city councillors.
“Concerns councillors have about a disruptive tenant in a building, about a pest infestation,” the deputy mayor added. “Because [resolutions are] rarely as simple as - just go do it.”
“I get constant dire communications from my constituents, mostly in my ward but also from around the city,” Trosow asserted. “So I don’t think I need to be educated about what the processes are.”
Lewis said the Question and Answer Sessions are not being abandoned, but will be held with smaller groups of councillors in the future to ensure open meeting rules are observed.
“Maybe those councillors who have a seniors site come to one meeting, those who have a family site come to a different meeting, and those who have an adult site in one of our high-rises come to a third meeting,” he explained.
But Trosow believes significant public interest in the living conditions at some LMCH properties justifies a public discussion.
“I think we need to have a public meeting, and we need to bring a lot of these issues out into the open,” he added.
In a statement to CTV News, LMCH writes, “At council’s request, LMCH explored hosting a Q&A session with our Board and senior staff to share details about our service channels and operations and for councillors to share community feedback. While the meeting did not move forward, our commitment to transparency and collaboration remains unchanged.”
