Accountability and Transparency

The Town of Whitby is committed to accountability and transparency. Council has approved the following measures to ensure the operations of the Town are accountable and transparent.

Council complaints

Council is required to follow a Code of Conduct that governs the actions of all Council members. If you identify or witness behaviour or activity by a member of Council that appears to be in contravention of the Council Code of Conduct or the Boards and Advisory Committees Code of Conduct, you can address your concerns by following these steps:

Advise the Member that their behaviour or activity appears to contravene the Code
Encourage the member to stop the behaviour or activity
If applicable, confirm to the member your satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the response received to the concern identified
Keep a written record of the incidents including dates, times, location, other persons present and any other relevant information including steps taken to resolve the matter

If you are not satisfied with the response received after following these steps, you can proceed with a formal complaint through the Integrity Commissioner.

Integrity Commissioner

The Integrity Commissioner is an independent and impartial position that reports directly to Town Council and whose powers and duties are set out in the Municipal Act, 2001. Council has appointed Principles Integrity , as the Integrity Commissioner for the Town as stated in By-law #7916-22.

Making a formal complaint

If you believe that a Council member has contravened the Code of Conduct, you can request the Integrity Commissioner to formally review the matter. Every complaint shall be made in writing on the Complaint Form, submitted to the Integrity Commissioner, and shall:

Set out the grounds for the belief and the contravention alleged
Be signed by an identifiable individual or authorized signing officer of an organization (note: the identity of the complainant will not be maintained in confidence);
Include the original or copy of any supporting documentation or other supporting material available to the complainant; and
Include the name and contact information of the complainant and any witness.

If upon review of the Complaint, the Integrity Commissioner is of the opinion that the complaint is frivolous, vexatious or not made in good faith, or that there are insufficient grounds for an investigation, the Integrity Commissioner will not conduct an investigation and shall communicate this position in writing to the complainant and the member of Council identified in the formal complaint.

If at any time, following the receipt of a formal complaint or during the investigation process, the Integrity Commissioner believes that an opportunity to resolve the matter may be successfully pursued without a formal investigation and both the complainant and the member of Council agree, efforts may be made to achieve an informal resolution. If the Integrity Commissioner determines that a formal investigation is required, an investigation shall proceed, subject to the Integrity Commissioner's ability to elect to exercise the powers of a commissioner under the Public Inquiries Act.

Closed Meeting Investigations

Some Council meetings are closed to the public for limited and specific reasons that are publicly declared. You can request a closed meeting investigation to ensure the meeting followed the Closed Meeting Policy. The Municipal Closed Meeting Investigator Procedure is found under Section 239 of the Municipal Act, 2001.

Request a closed meeting investigation

If you would like to request an investigation, we encourage you to discuss your concerns or inquiries with the Town Clerk before submitting a request at clerk@whitby.ca.

Complete the Closed Meeting Investigation Request form. Please note that the Town and Investigator will treat your identity as confidential, unless authorization is given by you.

What to include in the complaint

All complaints must contain the following information:

Your name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address
Date of the closed meeting under consideration
Nature and background of the particular occurrence
Any activities undertaken to resolve the concern
Any other relevant information

Investigation process

Once the request is received by the Town Clerk, the Clerk will enact the following procedures:

Assign a file number and record that number on the request
Forward the request to the Municipal Closed Meeting Investigator

Closed meeting investigation process

The Town of Whitby is committed to ensuring that any request for an investigation under Section 239 of the Municipal Act, 2001, is dealt with in a fair, open, and expeditious manner. The Town commits to full co-operation including the provision of all information requested by the Municipal Closed Meeting Investigator, either written or through interviews, to assist the Municipal Investigator in the investigations.

In accordance with Section 239.2(11) of the Municipal Act, 2001, the Town of Whitby shall ensure that any reports received by the municipality from the Closed Meeting Investigator are made available to the public.

About the closed meeting investigator

Through By-law 6040-08, the Town of Whitby has contracted Local Authority Services Limited (LAS) to provide closed meeting investigator services. LAS has delegated their authority to Aird & Berlis LLP to act as the Town's Closed Meeting Investigator and to conduct investigations upon receipt of a complaint in respect of meetings or part of meetings that are closed to the public to determine compliance with the Municipal Act and to report on the results of such investigations.

Municipal Ombudsman

In accordance with the Ombudsman Act and the Municipal Act, 2001, the Town of Whitby utilizes the Office of the Ontario Ombudsman for Ombudsman oversight.

The Office of the Ontario Ombudsman serves as an objective office, at arm's length from Council and the Administration, and will independently receive, review, and investigate complaints once all internal complaint processes have been exhausted in accordance with the Town's Public Complaint Policy.

Make a complaint

As members of the public, you must first follow the internal complaint processes prior to submitting a complaint to the Ombudsman. We recommend that you contact the individual department you dealt with first to resolve the issue. Following that, if you are not able to find a resolution, you may complete a Municipal Complaint Form so that an internal complaint process may take place to review your concerns as per the Public Complaint Policy. You can email clerk@whitby.ca should you wish to receive a copy of the Municipal Complaint Form.

If you aren't satisfied with the outcome of the internal complaint process, you may then file a complaint form with the Office of the Ontario Ombudsman through the Online Complaint Form.

You can contact the Office of the Ontario Ombudsman at 1.800.263.1830 and info@ombudsman.on.ca. For more information about the Office of the Ontario Ombudsman, please visit the Ombudsman Ontario Website.

Accountability and transparency policies and by-laws

We have various policies to ensure accountability and transparency of municipal government and its operations. The following policies and by-laws have been adopted by Council: