Of particular interest to Ontario's municipal archivists, please see this
update from AMCTO regarding Bill 130 updates.  


AMCTO Express... May 24, 2007
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
 

Bill 130 Investigator & Policy Provisions Proclaimed

 While most of the changes made to the Municipal Act by Bill 130 came
into effect on January 1, 2007, the provisions regarding the
investigation of complaints about closed meetings (section 239.1 and
239.2) and the requirement that council adopt policies with respect to
certain matters (the new section 270) did not. The Government accepted
advice from AMCTO and others that municipalities needed additional lead
time to implement these particular provisions.

The Province has now issued a proclamation naming January 1, 2008, as
the effective date for the Bill 130 amendments that add these provisions
to the Municipal Act and repeal certain related provisions (e.g.,
section 251 regarding giving of notice). The Minister of Municipal
Affairs and Housing is informing municipalities of the details of the
proclamation by means of a letter to heads of council
<http://www.amcto.com/wb3/db2file.asp?fileid=17843>. (Please note that
at the time of writing, the Municipal Act on e-Laws notes that the
proclamation has been made, but the legislative text has not yet been
adjusted to reflect this. For example, both the old and new versions of
section 270 are shown, with the new version still highlighted in grey
with the statement that it will come into effect "on a day to be named
by proclamation.")

AMCTO is providing support to members to help with the implementation of
the meeting investigator, council policy provisions and other
Accountability & Transparency provisions of the post-Bill 130 Municipal
Act. The two topics were dealt with in the sixteen full-day Bill 130
training sessions attended by a thousand municipal staff in the spring.
A section of Samples and Examples
<http://www.amcto.com/db/newsinfo.asp?it=729&itemid=9231&DataIT=&ListNam
e=> has been created on the AMCTO website devoted to Bill 130 to hold
examples of by-laws, policies and other documents (e.g., the first
example of an inter-municipal agreement to share a meeting investigator
posted last week). Members are sharing information one-on-one through
posts in the Accountability & Transparency, Council Meeting and Council
Policy/Procedure Member Forums
<http://www.amcto.com/members/forum/forum.asp?track=e>. Finally, Rick
O'Connor and AMCTO's Legislative Committee are working on a set of Bill
130 FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) as well as a "rollout checklist"
that we expect to be able to share with members shortly.

 Anne Hepplewhite, MAIG Chair