Councillor introduces new resolution aimed at strengthening transparency and accountability

By Casandra Turnbull

A Paris Councillor is asking fellow councillors to consider a new approach to transparency around the council table. Ward 2 Councillor Lukas Oakley is asking County staff to investigate practical ways to ensure all votes of council and standing committees are recorded. He presented the resolution during the March 28th County Council meeting. He’s also asking staff to investigate procedural, software and hardware solutions to ensure any changes in how votes are recorded does not consume too much extra time.

“This is something that came up going door-to-door, (while campaigning),” said Oakley of the resolution. Oakley was just elected last fall, and this was his first resolution

“We have a policy of being open and to the public, but we are still opaque in some areas and one of those is how we individual councillors vote,” said Oakley. If his resolution is adopted, all votes would be recorded so residents will always have access to who voted for or against a motion. As it stands now, votes are passed with a majority and all public documents from meetings simply state whether a motion carried or not but does not provide details of how the vote went down, unless a recorded vote is called for specifically.

“It’s important as a democratically elected body that we are held accountable to our constituents.”

Councillors Brian Coleman and Robert Chambers both stated they had concerns with recording votes, but agreed to review the staff recommendation and see what ideas are brought to the table.

Councillor David Miller wondered how many other municipalities support recorded votes. Oakley named some larger cities, Brantford, Hamilton, Toronto, but said he did not investigate how many municipalities the size of Brant took part in recorded votes. “Cities and towns you just mentioned, they are much bigger than we are,” said Mayor David Bailey, as a result they operate in a different manner.

Mayor Bailey had concerns with how much time and resources would be required to implement recorded voting, noting that currently, residents can exercise transparency by attending council meetings, watching (and rewatching) them on YouTube, reading about them through social media or by reading local media articles.

Bailey pressed Oakley for a timeline on the return of the staff report. Oakley wanted to leave it up to staff discretion Everyone voted unanimously to support the staff report. The resolution will be discussed further once the staff report is returned.