White Rock council has certainly had a lot of business to conduct out of the public eye of late – the decision to abandon waste management for businesses and multifamily residences notable among them.
Perhaps elected officials would be wise to heed the mayoral words spoken at an inauguration ceremony in White Rock some time ago.
That mayor – apparently critical that the city held more in-camera meetings (24) that year than it did regular council meetings (22) – said: “Closed meetings remain a necessity, but will only be held if required. Moreover, the criteria for deciding if they are to be held will not be, ‘How can we take this in-camera?’ but rather, ‘Does this have to be in-camera?’”
Current White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin cited the Community Charter last week when he refused to explain why he excluded one councillor from all committee appointments and from serving as deputy mayor, as the matter had been discussed in-camera. The city also cited the charter earlier this month when it refused a resident’s request to state the wording of the motion passed in-camera Dec. 15 that ended the aforementioned city garbage pickup. Instead, the city’s freedom-of-information clerk released a five-page redacted document that included only the names of attendees, the time the meeting was called to order – 3:03 p.m. – and the late arrival of two councillors (Bill Lawrence at 3:07, Grant Meyer at 3:09).
In general terms, civic issues that are accepted to be discussed behind closed doors under the charter include personnel issues, land acquisitions, labour relations and ongoing and impending litigation. Given the current council’s apparent directive to suppress issues simply because they initially arose in-camera, it appears the full number of topics now discussed behind closed doors will never be made public.
Peace Arch News asked Baldwin last week to ballpark the number of in-camera meetings held since his second term began nearly five months ago. “Three or four, something like that,” he replied.
He underestimated by more than half, as the city clerk confirmed 10 in-camera meetings had been held – two in December and eight so far in 2015. For comparison, the City of Surrey held six in the same time period; the City of Vancouver, nine; and City of Langley, seven.
White Rock’s leaders would do well to heed the spirit of the earlier mayor quoted above. For the record, that speech was delivered on Dec. 5, 2011. The speaker was former city manager Wayne Baldwin, about to begin his first term as mayor of White Rock.