Regional councillors vote for sgt-at-arms in chambers

REGIONAL COUNCIL took a deeper dive into how it runs its meetings and deals with the media and the public Thursday.

It is still a work in progress, but Niagara Region CAO Carmen D’Angelo told the council that some of the changes would update policy and address “gaps” identified in the wake of a couple of recent high-profile incidents.

There were two incidents at one meeting in December when a reporter from The Standard had his equipment seized and was ejected from the building, and a recording device belonging to a citizen blogger was found during an in-camera session.

There were also incidents in December and January during which a member of the public attending the meeting felt threatened and harassed.

In dealing with the first two incidents, during a special committee of the whole meeting prior to the regular meeting of council, councillors voted to study to use of an anteroom for closed sessions. It will cost in the range of $50,000 to renovate Committee Room No. 4 if council decides that is the best solution.

Council currently stays in the chamber. Members of the media and the public are forced to leave.

Councillors voted to hire a sergeant-at-arms to help regulate meetings.

Councillors also voted to create another space around the horseshoe.

Space is needed for a new seat for West Lincoln which will be getting another councillor in the next election.

There isn’t space in the council horseshoe for another councillor — so the decision will result in a re-design, which will come with a cost.

On the operational side, D’Angelo offered some suggestions to improve meeting protocol, which councillors voted to receive.

They include the installation of surveillance cameras at strategic locations; securing non-public areas and the development of additional policies including a policy related to the security of public access doors; policy related to surveillance cameras; determining the deputy chair, and any policy recommendations as received by the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario.

The ombudsman is in the middle of investigating the incident in December involving the seizure of the reporter’s computer.

Welland Coun. Paul Grenier worried the policies under consideration and council were “trying to solve too many problems within one report.”

He also lamented that the Region is missing a chance to be a leader municipal government in dealing with changes in the media landscape and the proliferation of citizen bloggers by not being aggressive enough in looking at the changing relationships.

Grenier told councillors they need to “provide a framework so nothing like this would even happen again.”

Council decided to hold off on the development of a policy do develop stronger relations with the media to the next meeting of council.