Following over a dozen closed meetings claiming the City’s plans on how to appoint residents to agencies, boards, and committees (ABC) constitutes a trade secret of monetary values that if known to the public will significant harm the interests of City Hall, Hamilton City Council is nearing the interview stage of the 2022-26 citizen volunteer appointment process.
Yes, that paragraph was long.
Council will decide upon who will be interviewed for some of these ABCs during a meeting on Monday morning.
Residents selected for interviews will have ten (10) minutes to answer a series of questions from members of City Council.
The new Council has decided to retain the existing process of appointing for all positions at the beginning of the Council term and all appointments expiring at the beginning of the next Council term.
Applicants must be age 18 to apply, meaning someone who is presently age 17 must wait another four years for the next appointment cycle. City staff have stated that staggered appointments – common in other municipalities – would create an administrative burden.
Integrity Commissioners on Selection and Conflict of Interest
Hamilton’s “Integrity Commissioners”, the firm Principles Integrity which is co-owned by retired Hamilton City Solicitor Janice Atwood-Petkovski, writes in an unsigned opinion that “As members of Council it is expected that you would have extensive connections in the community, and it is not unreasonable to think that some of those ‘connections’ would be in competition with each other as candidates for appointment.”
Councillors are only in conflict if the person is a relative as defined by the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act, reads the unsigned opinion.
Production Details v. 1.0.0 Published: June 4, 2023 Last edited: June 4, 2023 Author: Joey Coleman Edit Record v. 1.0.0 original version