Police board shuts door on council access to closed meetings

GUELPH – County councillors can no longer sit in on private police board meetings if they aren’t board members.

Allowing non-member Wellington County politicians to be present at portions of the meetings otherwise closed to the public was a long-standing practice until the board shut it down last month.

County council doesn’t get a say in the decision.

County councillor Campbell Cork, who is not a board member, said at an April 30 meeting he’s concerned with creeping secrecy.

“I don’t like unnecessary secrecy at any level of government, but I particularly dislike it when it’s applied to our police, a quasi-military body, the only body our society empowers to guns,” Cork said.

The county’s police board consists of county Warden Chris White, councillors Andy Lennox (chair) and Earl Campbell, former Erin mayor Allan Alls and provincial appointee Gord Feniak.

Unlike municipal police boards, the county’s OPP board functions as a smaller administrative body covering the policing contract between the county and the OPP.

Typically convening once a month, the board openly discusses community policing needs, budget updates and revenue from parking tickets and false alarms.

But there is also often a portion of the meeting closed to the public and reporters – and now most county councillors – where subject matter deemed sensitive is discussed behind closed doors.

Councillor Jeff Duncan has attended the vast majority of police board meetings in the past seven years. He told council last week what’s discussed within closed meetings is largely operational and wouldn’t “generally” cause councillors concern.

“Disciplinary things or procedural matters or the way that the OPP conducts its business is not dealt with in that venue,” Duncan said.

With the new rules in place, Duncan will have to leave the room when the board moves the meeting into a closed portion, as is the practice at other boards, such as public health, where non-member county officials attend.

Consultant Nigel Bellchamber flagged the county’s practice in a larger report about council transparency in the fall of 2024.

County integrity commissioner Guy Giorno advised the board last year to disallow non-members in closed meeting sessions, regardless of political status.

The county’s library board, regulated under the Public Libraries Act, was similarly advised.

The police board is now governed by the Community Safety and Policing Act, which imposes stricter confidentiality parameters that Lennox said places a “fairly hefty legal weight” on members.

Cork put forward a motion at the meeting urging the board to reverse its decision to restrict councillors’ access.

“As far as I’m concerned, the more eyes on all of this, the better,” he said.
Cork likened the change to strong mayor powers and, “The reduction of elected officials from the process.”

“We have oversight and accountability for millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to pay for the police service,” Cork said.

Councillor James Seeley added a clause to the motion, calling on the board to share minutes of the closed session at minimum.

“If I don’t know what I don’t know, how am I going to go to the members on the board and say, ‘Well, this is affecting my community, I want you to raise this at the board,’” Seeley said.

Board members Lennox and Campbell said they would not recommend the board reverse course.

“This is no way an attempt to change the relationship between the OPP board and county council,” Lennox told fellow councillors.

“There are operational things, that under this legislation, the OPP are obligated to share with the board that are not suitable for broader consumption,” he said, adding, he is unaware of another board allowing non-members to be present during closed meetings.

Campbell noted the board has discretion to share limited information by reporting out from a closed session.

Cork said, “We got a lot of assurances around here about, ‘Oh, don’t worry, we don’t do this, we don’t do that, we’ll tell you about it.’ We won’t know, that’s the point.”

Cork’s motion urging the police board to undo its decision was defeated 12-2 with Cork and Seeley in favour.

Another motion, urging the county library board to allow county councillors to attend closed sessions, later advanced by Cork at the same meeting, also failed in a 12-2 vote.