Municipality of Highlands East

Pursuant to Section 48 of the Municipal Act 2001, S.O. 2001, c. 25, as amended, the Municipal Council, at their regular meeting, will be considering a by-law to name/rename all public and private roads, as required, to accommodate the addition/revision of road names within the County of Haliburton. The regular meeting will take place on Tuesday, July 13, 2010.

Council for the Municipality of Highlands East proposes to enact a by-law to adopt the 2010 Municipal Budget. Notice is hereby provided that a public meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 8, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. in the Council Chambers in Wilberforce.

There will be a special meeting of Council held on Friday, April 16, 2010 at 8:00PM. Council will go into Closed Session to discuss matters pertaining to litigation/potential litigation regarding fire personnel.

Council would like to extend an invitation to interested parties such as local businesses, realtors, arts and culture, sports and recreation, genealogy and farmers market groups to attend a meeting to discuss potential funding opportunities with the different ministries and ways and means of promoting the municipality as the ultimate tourist destination, the place to live, and the place to develop businesses and investment opportunities.

Meeting will be held at the Lloyd Watson Centre in Wilberforce on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 7:00pm.

The 2nd regular Council meeting in February has been canceled.  There will be no meeting on February 23, 2010.

There will be only one Council meeting in December 2009 being December 8th, 2009.  The meeting will take place in the Council Chambers located in the municipal office at 2249 Loop Road, Wilberforce.

A Special Meeting of Council will be held on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 6:30PM at the Lloyd Watson Community Centre in Wilberforce regarding the Official Plan Review and Update. For more information please download the info sheet below.

Download file: 2009.11.10_notice.official_plan_meeting.pdf

A public information meeting will be held on Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 10:00AM at the Cardiff United Church regarding the Cardiff Townsite's Walking Trails and Pathways.

Council has received funding to improve the pathways and create walking trails and the public's participation and comments are welcome.

Download file: 2009.09.14_notice.walkingtrailsmeeting.pdf

Municipal Act Closed Meeting Rules

The Province has established the rules for a council, local board or a committee to go into a closed meeting through The Municipal Act, S.O. 2001, c.25, as amended. Any person or corporation may request that an investigation be undertaken respecting whether the closed meeting rules have been complied with in accordance with the current legislation.

Why are some meetings closed to the public?
Municipal councils, local boards and their committees must meet behind closed doors on occasion to deal with some matters. For example, if a municipality is being sued or if Council is considering purchasing a piece of land or if Council must deal with a labour relations issue then it is appropriate that it be able to do so at a closed meeting. The purpose of such a closed meeting is to receive information or give direction.

Local government in Ontario must be transparent and accountable. To this end, the Province has set the rules for a council, local board or a committee to go into a closed meeting. These rules are found in section 239 of the Municipal Act 2001, as amended.

The permitted reasons for going into a closed meeting are:

• The security of property of the municipality or local board;
• Personal matters about an identifiable individual, including employees;
• A proposed or pending acquisition or disposition of land;
• Labour relations or employee negotiations;
• Litigation or potential litigation
• Advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege;
• A matter authorized by another provincial statute;
• If the subject matter relates to a request under the Municipal Freedom of Information an Protection of Privacy Act;
• The meeting is held for educating and training and no member discusses or deals with a matter in a way that materially advances the business decision-making of the council or local board.

Background

As of January 1, 2008 any person or corporation will be able to request that an investigation be undertaken respecting whether a municipality or local board, or a committee of either, has complied with closed meeting rules outlined in the Municipal Act, 2001 or the applicable procedural by-law.

Through Local Authority Services Ltd., (LAS) the Municipality of Highlands East has engaged the services of Amberley Gavel Ltd. as the Municipal Closed Meeting Investigator and has authorized it to conduct investigations upon receipt of a complaint in respect of meetings or parts of meetings that are closed to the public. The Investigator will determine compliance with the Act or the applicable procedural by-law with respect to closed meetings and will report on the results of such investigations.

In the Municipality of Highlands East, the meetings of the bodies to which this legislation applies are Council meetings and Committee of Adjustment meetings.

Complaint Procedure

Complaints may be submitted on the established complaint form or via written request. The complaint form may be printed from the website or can be obtained from the Clerk’s Department. All complaints must be submitted in a sealed envelope marked “private and confidential” and contain the following information:

1. Name of municipality
2. Complainant’s name, mailing address, telephone number and e-mail address (if applicable)
3. Date of closed meeting under consideration
4. Nature and background of the particular occurrence
5. Any activities undertaken (if any) to resolve the concern
6. Any other relevant information
7. Original signature

Complaints may be submitted by mail or delivered directly to:

Municipality of Highlands East
Box 295, Wilberforce, Ontario
K0L 3C0

Attention: Clerk

Please remember to mark the sealed envelope “PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL”

All complaints will be treated as confidential at all times and will be forwarded directly to Amberley Gavel Ltd. For more information on this topic, please submit comments or inquiries to: icook [at] highlandseast [dot] ca, Phone: 705-448-2981 or Fax: 705-448-3211

Download file: closed_meeting_complaint_form.pdf