Cobourg – New Provincial Legislation to Allow Virtual Municipal Council Meetings

Pete Fisher
5 years ago
• Categories: Local

Staff move towards implementing virtual meetings to continue to conduct the important business of Council.

The Town of Cobourg has announced that a Special Meeting of Cobourg Municipal Council will take place on Monday, March 20, 2020 at 3 p.m. in respect to Bill 187 – An Act to amend the Municipal Act, 2001 that was passed and received Royal Assent yesterday by the Province of Ontario.

During the March 19th legislative session at Queen’s Park, the Province of Ontario introduced the Municipal Emergency Act, 2020 to assist municipal governments and local boards during the COVID-19 emergency (Ontario News Release). This legislation, and the Employment Standards Amendment Act (Infectious Disease Emergencies), 2020, have now received unanimous consent in the Legislature.

The Special Meeting of Council will consider the following:

• An amendment to the Procedural Bylaw to permit Council to participate electronically in quorum and closed session;

The new subsection 238(3.3) to the Municipal Act, 2001, specifies that a municipality’s procedural by-law may provide that, during municipal emergencies, members of councils, local boards and committees who participate electronically in open and closed meetings, may be counted for the purposes of quorum.

“The Town of Cobourg is keeping operations top of mind as we work to ensure our Municipal Council has the ability to virtually conduct important business and make key decisions without needing to meet physically,” said Brent Larmer, Municipal Clerk and Manager of Legislative Services for the Town of Cobourg.

“We all must do our part to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and that includes social distancing for our Mayor and Council members as well.”

Additionally, there will be a second Special Meeting of Council called directly following the first Special Meeting. This second meeting will include an update on COVID-19 and also recommendations through a motion from Town staff under General Government that deals with fee deferral to the Municipality presented by the Interim Chief Administrative Officer and Treasurer Ian Davey.

Use of this emergency provision will be at each Municipal Council’s discretion. The Town of Cobourg would like to thank the Province of Ontario and all parties for their support in yesterday’s legislation.

The agenda has been published on the Town’s Civic Web portal at: cobourg.civicweb.net/portal