In addition, Bill 197 has introduced a further proposed amendment to the Municipal Act which would allow a member of Council to appoint another member of Council to act as proxy in their place when they are absent from a Council Meeting, subject to the following rules:
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A member shall not appoint a proxy unless the proxyholder is a member of the same council as the appointing member.
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A member shall not act as a proxy for more than one member of council at any one time.
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The member appointing the proxy shall notify the clerk of the appointment in accordance with the process established by the clerk.
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For the purpose of determining whether or not a quorum of members is present at any point in time, a proxyholder shall be counted as one member and shall not be counted as both the appointing member and the proxyholder.
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A proxy shall be revoked if the appointing member or the proxyholder requests that the proxy be revoked and complies with the proxy revocation process established by the clerk.
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Where a recorded vote is requested under section 246, the clerk shall record the name of each proxyholder, the name of the member of council for whom the proxyholder is voting and the vote cast on behalf of that member; and
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A member who appoints a proxy for a meeting shall be considered absent from the meeting for the purposes of determining whether the office of the member is vacant under clause 259 (1) (c).
Currently, Bill 197 has received two readings in the Legislature and, at the time of writing this report, has not yet been passed or proclaimed.
With respect to the amendments related to proxy voting, it is the recommendation of Administration that Council direct a further report to be brought to Council for its consideration regarding fulsome procedures that could be put in place in order to implement this change. Such direction will allow Administration the time to confer with other municipalities as procedures are developed across the Province in order to ensure that best practices are presented to City Council for consideration.
Regarding the extension of the electronic participation amendments to the Municipal Act, Council must consider if it wishes to extend the ability to meet electronically and what format the meetings will take.
Current Meeting Format:
Format:
As Council is aware, since March 17, 2020, given the restrictions on the number of persons who could attend a public gathering in person (first 5 persons and now 10), the City chose to implement fully electronic meetings. Initially these meetings were held via teleconference for both open and in camera meetings. In order to ensure transparency,