As you know, I regret that audio recordings and minutes are no longer posted on the North Hatley municipal website within days of council meetings.
1. Why are there no more audio recordings?
According to the response I received this morning from Ms. Davis-Gerrish, the lack of audio recordings since June is due to the retirement of the person responsible for them. The operation was considered cumbersome: installing and dismantling the audio system at each session, then cleaning up background noise before posting online.
After analysis, the council therefore decided to stop broadcasting the audio recordings, considering that the minutes constitute “the official record.”
However, there is a simple solution.
Several municipalities use a fixed microphone or a very simple digital recorder—without any editing. The raw audio is posted online as is, accompanied by a short warning. This works very well and avoids using technical complexity as an excuse for lack of transparency.
2. Minutes: a problematic delay, partially offset by the Entre Nous newsletter
Regarding the November minutes, Ms. Davis-Gerrish indicated that they must first be adopted at the next meeting before being made public. They were therefore adopted 30 days later and subsequently published.
To compensate for this lack of information, Ms. Davis-Gerrish informs me that the Entre Nous newsletter will now present a summary of the resolutions adopted, accompanied by a brief explanation. This is an excellent initiative. The first summary was published about ten days after the meeting. Please note that this is not a transcript per se.
However, I welcome this effort toward transparency. That said, ten days before publication is a long time—and, more importantly, the newsletter is not accessible to everyone. For the information to be truly public, I recommend that this summary also be published on the official website within two to three days of the meeting, rather than simply being emailed to a limited list ten days later.
Concernant le procès-verbal de novembre, Mme Davis-Gerrish indique qu’il doit d’abord être adopté à la séance suivante avant d’être rendu public. Le tout est donc adopté 30 jours plus tard et publié par la suite.
3. A quick response from the mayor… but silence from senior management
I would like to commend Ms. Davis-Gerrish for her promptness and courtesy in taking the time to respond to me.
In contrast, senior management never responded to my request.
In the municipal structure, the mayor is usually contacted as a second resort if the administration does not respond. However, if the highest administrative authority cannot respond to an email within five business days, it raises questions. Is it a lack of resources? Too many files? An excessive workload?
This silence remains a concern.
4. The minutes may be approved at the end of the current meeting.
According to the Municipal Code of Quebec (C-27.1), section 201:
The minutes must be approved immediately (during the meeting) or at the next meeting. However, failure to approve the minutes does not prevent them from being used as evidence.
Here’s what that means, in simple terms:
- Decisions are made in front of the public at the time of voting.
- They take effect immediately upon adoption.
- The minutes are simply a transcript of these decisions.
- There is nothing to prevent the municipality from publishing draft minutes the following day.
The law only regulates adoption, not the dissemination of the minutes.
The MAMH Welcome Guide for Elected Officials confirms that the minutes are drafted after the meeting and adopted at the next meeting—but does not prohibit the publication of a draft before adoption. Approval of the minutes at the end of the meeting or at the next meeting is a purely administrative decision.
5. Could the council change decisions after the meeting?
Based on my research, the answer is clear: no. A decision adopted in a public session is:
- valid,
- enforceable,
- opposable,
- and cannot be modified after the fact.
The council cannot change what has been decided in front of the public simply by altering the minutes. That is illegal.
To change a decision that has already been adopted, it would be necessary to:
- add a new resolution to the agenda of a public meeting;
- vote again to amend or overturn the previous decision.
Altering minutes to change a decision without a public resolution would be a serious breach and could lead to intervention by the Quebec Municipal Commission.
In conclusion
- The council’s decisions are made in public and are not changed after the fact.
- A draft of the minutes can be legally published the day after the meeting.
- The Entre Nous newsletter is a good initiative, but it does not replace the obligation to publish information on the official website.
- The lack of an administrative response is concerning and warrants consideration.
- Thank you to Ms. Gerrish-Davis for her prompt response.
On that note, I wish you all a productive council meeting (agenda) this evening at 7 p.m.
May transparency continue to progress in North Hatley!
