Transparency- 2 Technology considerations. STOP THAT SILLY RECORDING!
Technology in Political Life should enable trust!

Advancing technologies have enabled those members of the public who have an interest in governance to be audience to, or even to participate in the decision making processes.

Prior to the “Internet” becoming a repository and access point for public records, the processes truly relied on trust. If our forefathers had Council Meetings, their decisions were scribed in minutes of those meetings. However, how would the public be informed? Those minutes could be displayed publicly and those choosing to attend Town Hall’s could read them. Newspaper journalists and other media members could and often would share key decisions. But the discussions that shaped those decisions were seldom shared.

That all changed with the advances in technology. Audio and video equipment has made it possible to record and store this information.

The introduction of the Internet has also made it possible to access all of that information on demand. Suddenly, we were able to go to an online directory, select the meetings we wanted to review and sit back and enjoy. Even more important was when that technology made it possible to actually participate in these meetings remotely using cameras and microphones in our own devices.

All of this technology is great right? Well, that depends. Like anything new, decisions had to be made on what tools were appropriate to use, what guidelines should be implemented and what cautions should be put in place to protect the integrity of the information. The final (sad) reality is the cost of accessing these technologies had to also be considered.

So…. Let’s talk about some specifics regarding the evolving Wasaga Beach political transparency and recording devices.

For many years, the minutes of the various meetings were our only permanent record of what decisions were made. I first started following politics around 2012 and I remember reading extensive transcripts of not just the actual decisions, but also the discussion points of various staff and council members.

Elsewhere, the internet was becoming a popular place for those communities who embraced the technology to watch their elected officials.

It seemed Wasaga Beach was not ready yet, but a change DID happen to the minutes. The discussions were no longer captured and just the decisions were recorded. But why? The official response when asked was that the decisions were all that was required to be captured in the minutes. This was the answer provided by the Clerk hired by Brian Smith.

During that period of politics in Wasaga Beach, some politicians preferred their reasons for voting to be recorded, while others did not. So, it met the legislated minimums but was actually the first time I noticed a reduction in what was being shared. But the pressure was on. Two members of the 2014-18 Council (Bifolchi and Bray) pushed to have all meetings recorded, broadcast and archived. It was happening elsewhere and the pressure was now on for the entire Council to embrace this microscope of their conduct.

So, during the 2014-18 term of office the practice of recording the meetings in their entirety was introduced. Amendments were made to the original motion that prevented the recording of “in camera” sessions but it was still a victory for democracy, as almost ALL Council meetings, and most Committee Meetings were now going to be video recorded for broadcast and archived for Public access.

This was the biggest improvement to transparency in generations. Video tapes of several meetings have been used to assist investigators in determining guilt or innocence of elected officials everywhere.

However…. Once a motion is defeated or passed it could not be introduced again for another year. So, a year later Councilor Bray introduced another motion and insisted that “in camera” (behind closed doors) meetings also be recorded. Because of the nature of these meetings, certain security precautions were necessary. These particular recordings would not be public, but would be stored for authorized investigators to ensure rules allowing secrecy were respected. The motion passed, but only audio recordings were ever kept.

Well, that’s a pretty good boost for open and transparent governance, but wait…..

Brian Smith gets elected again in 2022 and one of the first actions taken was to discontinue the recording of in-camera meetings.

Since then there has also been changes to what meetings ARE recorded, but we can address that tomorrow. For now… let’s discuss what is probably one if the most telling political moves in Brian Smiths service as Mayor.

Ask yourself; If recordings of “in camera meetings” (the secret meetings of Council) were only ever to be made available to those legally allowed to investigate our Council for wrong doing… Why stop these recordings? What is your Council hiding that they don’t want investigators to ever have access to.