Cornwall councillor mulling call to Ontario Ombudsman over closed meeting

Councillor Maurice Dupelle, right, during a council meeting on Dec. 16, 2014. Dupelle is considering whether the Ontario Ombudsmen should be called after a closed-door council meeting on Monday March 2, 2015. (Cornwall Newswatch/File)

CORNWALL – It looks like one Cornwall city councillor may look at getting the Ontario Ombudsman involved in city business after a closed-door meeting Monday.

Coun. Maurice Dupelle is among several councillors questioning whether a portion of a budget meeting had to be held in private.

The request to have the meeting go in-camera had been made by Coun. Mark MacDonald where it was expected that names would be named and buildings would be identified for either cutbacks or sell-offs as part of a budget-trimming progress.

But, evidently, nothing fruitful came out of the session as no motions were tabled before the meeting was adjourned.

Dupelle tells the Standard-Freeholder he questioned why a number of department heads sat in on the meeting, believing it should have been just the CAO and clerk meeting with council.

The second-term councillor says he also had trouble getting answers when it comes to who investigates closed meetings.

Private meeting investigator Stephen Fournier, who was kept busy in Cornwall during the previous administration, retired at the end of 2014 and a replacement is yet to be publicly named.

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