By: Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Essex Free Press

Council for the County of Essex appointed the Ontario Ombudsman as the closed meeting investigator during the September 2 meeting.

This was first brought up back in May. At that time, County Council was notified the County of Essex’s agreement with the Local Authority Services (LAS) Limited to provide closed meeting investigations would end. That was due to the discontinuation of the service. That left the regional decision-makers having to decide whether to appoint another independent firm or proceed with using the Ontario Ombudsman.

At the May 20 meeting, a majority of County Council approved proceeding with a procurement  process. However, some County Councillors voiced concern with doing so at the time. This was to include accepting requests for proposals, with the resultant recommendation for appointment of a closed meeting investigator to be brought back to Council consideration and for the passing of an appointment bylaw. The results of the procurement process came forward at the last meeting of County Council.

The result of this was brought forward to County Council last week.

The report on the matter notes and Request for Proposal was posted on June 19 and remained up for 35-days. There were four proposals submitted, with three qualifying in the technical evaluation.

The recommended proponent had an hourly rate of $300 for each year of the proposed contract, from 2026 to 2030. There would also be a bill rate of $300 per hour, only charged when used to investigate a concern.

The County of Essex needed to engage a closed meeting investigator one time in the past 20-years, which resulted in no findings of impropriety, County Clerk Katherine Hebert explained.

Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy was happy County administration took the feedback from Council with open-mindedness towards using the Ombudsman. She hoped County Council did think about using the Ontario Ombudsman for the service. She believed it would drop corporate legal bills and have more public trust. When Council appoints its own investigator, there is a perception of bias.

Amherstburg Mayor Michael Prue believed going forward with the Ombudsman was the absolute best way to proceed. Not because the County could save money, but because the public perception is very important.

Previously, Hebert noted that a closed meeting is deemed improper if the topic does not fit into one of the exceptions, if the Procedure By- Law is not followed as it relates to close meetings, if no proper resolution is passed before closing the meeting, or if the discussion goes beyond the allowed topic.

She also outlined at the time that hiring independently could give Council more control over the selection process and set a standard for reporting back to Council.

Hebert also noted previously that the downside of using the Ombudsman, according to feedback she had heard, is that a timely response is not necessarily something that can be relied upon.