OTTAWA POLICE SERVICES BOARD

COMMISSION DE SERVICES POLICIERS D’OTTAWA

Working together for a safer community

La sécurité de notre communauté, un travail d’équipe

REPORT

RAPPORT

DATE 20 September 2011

TO/DEST. Chair and Members of the Ottawa Police Services Board

FROM/EXP. Executive Director, Ottawa Police Services Board

SUBJECT/OBJET NOTICE OF MOTION REGARDING
ENACTMENT OF A NEW PROCEDURE BY-LAW
(TO BE CONSIDERED AT 24 OCTOBER 2011 MEETING)

RECOMMENDATION

That the Ottawa Police Services Board receive and table this report and the attached Procedure By-law #2 of 2011 for approval and enactment at its 24 October 2011 meeting.

BACKGROUND

The proceedings of the Ottawa Police Services Board (the Board) are currently governed by Procedural By-law #2 of 2001, as amended by By-law #1 of 2006 and By-law #2 of 2007. Periodically the Board conducts reviews of its existing policies and by-laws to ensure they are still relevant and up-to-date. The Board’s approved 2011 Work Plan includes a review of the Procedural By-law; this review was conducted over the summer.

DISCUSSION

In conducting a review of the existing By-law as well as reviewing Procedure By-laws from other large boards in the Province, some gaps in Ottawa’s By-law were noted that have been addressed in the new By-law; these gaps are described in the notes below. The review also provided an opportunity to make some housekeeping amendments that are minor in nature and not specifically described in this report. A copy of the proposed new Procedure By-law, which will be By-law #2 of 2011, is attached as Annex A. A document illustrating all of the proposed changes is on file with the Board’s Executive Director and available upon request.

The more substantive changes made to the By-law include the following:

A new section addressing the Selection of Chair and Vice Chair.
The existing By-law contains only one line on the selection of the Chair and Vice Chair as follows: “At its first meeting of the year, the Board shall elect a Chair, pursuant to section 28 of the Police Services Act, and a Vice Chair for that year.” The Board has for many years used a particular approach in the selection of these positions, but it was not captured in the Procedure By-law. The new By-law (in section 3) sets out a detailed election process that largely reflects the Board’s practices.

Elimination of the section on Duties of the Executive Director.
The current by-law contains a section that lists a number of duties to be performed by the Executive Director that are specific to the provisions of the Procedure By-law and the Board’s meetings. It is not a list of all the duties for which the Executive Director is responsible; these are contained in a Job Description for the position. The By-law also contains several references to the Executive Director’s responsibilities in specific sections. The latter approach would seem to be sufficient and is in keeping with the By-laws of other large boards in the Province.

Expansion of the section on Duties of the Chair to include the following:

- Represent and support the Board, declaring its will and implicitly obeying its decisions in all things.

- Inform the Board on any point of order as deemed necessary.

- When deemed necessary, expel or exclude from a meeting any person for Improper Conduct.

- Call by name, any Member persisting in breach of the rules of procedure and order him or her to vacate the room in which the meeting is being held and if necessary, proceed as provided in section 8(2).

- Sign all documents for and on behalf of the Board including but not limited to by-laws, resolutions, orders, contracts and agreements that have been approved by the Board.

The Conduct of Members section has been expanded to include the following:

- (No member shall)…Speak in a manner that is discriminatory in nature based on an individual’s race, ancestry, place of origin, citizenship, creed, gender, sexual orientation, age, colour, marital status, family status or disability.

- Members shall conduct themselves in accordance with Ontario Regulation No. 421/07 – Members of Police Services Board Code of Conduct – and any Board Policy that may be approved.

The Interest Disclosure section has been expanded from one sentence to six sub-sections, and now contains the following more detailed provisions to provide greater guidance to Board members:

12. (1) The Members shall be governed by the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act, R.S.O 1990, c. M.50, as amended, and the agenda shall include a provision for members to declare any interest in accordance with the Act.

(2) Where a Member, either on his or her own behalf or while acting for, by, with or through another, has any pecuniary interest, direct or indirect, in any matter and is present at a meeting of the Board at which the matter is the subject of consideration, the Member shall:

(a) prior to any consideration of the matter at the meeting, disclose the interest and general nature thereof;

(b) not take part in the discussion of, or vote on any question in respect of the matter; and

(3) Where a meeting is not open to the public, in addition to complying with the requirements in Section 12.2, the Member shall forthwith leave the meeting for the part of the meeting during which the matter is under consideration.

(4) Where the interest of a Member has not been disclosed by reason of his or her absence from the particular meeting, the Member shall disclose his or her interest and otherwise comply at the first meeting of the Board attended by him or her after the particular meeting.

(5) To fulfill the Board’s quasi-judicial function pursuant to Part V (Complaints) of the Act, members should not take part in the administration of Part V matters if they have a personal interest or where they may be perceived as having a personal interest or bias. Where there is uncertainty as to whether a conflict may exist, the issue should be raised. The decision in regards to the conflict shall be the responsibility of the Member.

(6) The Executive Director shall record in reasonable detail, the particulars of any disclosure of conflict of interest made by the Member(s), and the particulars shall appear in the minutes of that meeting of the Board.

A new section addressing Notices of Motion has been added. Provisions for dealing with Notices of Motion are absent in the current By-law. This oversight has been rectified by the inclusion of a new section outlining the standard procedure to be followed.

The Closed Meetings section has been expanded. To provide clearer guidance, the section will now include some examples of situations that would qualify under the provisions of section 35 of the Police Services Act for discussion in a Closed Meeting.

The section on the Hearing of Delegations has been expanded and revised. The section will now provide greater guidance and clearer requirements for individuals wishing to make delegations to the Board.

Due to the number of changes to the By-law as described above, it is recommended that the existing By-law #2 of 2001 be repealed and that a new By-law be adopted in its place for ease of reference.

NEXT STEPS

The Procedure By-law, in section 33 (3), stipulates that “No amendment or repeal of this By-law shall be considered at any meeting of the Board unless notice of the proposed amendment or repeal was given at a previous regular meeting of the Board and the Board may not waive such notice.”

To comply with this requirement, notice of the repeal of the existing By-law #2 of 2001 is being given at the Board meeting on 26 September 2011, so that the Board may approve the By-law at its next meeting on 24 October 2011.

CONSULTATION

All members of the Board were invited to submit amendments to the By-law. Once all proposed amendments were incorporated, the Board’s Policy & Governance Committee reviewed the new By-law. Board Solicitor D. White has also reviewed the proposed amendments and provided his input.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT

There are no financial implications associated with this report.

CONCLUSION

The Board has been well served by its existing By-law, but there is always room for improvement and opportunities to provide clearer guidance to assist the Board in conducting its business. A comprehensive review of the By-law has been carried out to identify gaps or areas that would benefit from enhanced direction. In addition, the Procedure By-laws of other major police services boards in the Province were reviewed to assist in identifying gaps that might exist in our By-law. With Notice having been duly given of the intention to repeal the existing by-law and replace it with the attached new one, the Board will be asked at its next meeting to approve and enact Procedure By-law #2 of 2011.

(Original signed by)

Wendy Fedec

Executive Director

Attach. (1)