In 2007, the Municipal Act (the ‘Act’) was amended to provide municipalities with greater autonomy but also to provide for various accountability and transparency measures as a balance to increased powers in the Act. Subsequent amendments have broadened and strengthened those measures.

An Accountability and Transparency policy was adopted in 2007.

Code of Conduct and Integrity Commissioner

The Council Code of Conduct was adopted to govern the actions of council.

An Integrity Commissioner has been appointed to address the application of, and provide advice relating to, the Code of Conduct and any procedures, rules and policies governing the ethical behavior of members of council and of local boards. The Integrity Commissioner is also required to provide advice on obligations under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act.

A Code of Conduct Complaint Form and Affidavit is attached here.

The Integrity Commissioner delivers an annual report to Council providing a summary of activity throughout the year.

Closed Meeting Investigations

The Act provides that a person may request that an investigation be held to determine if a municipality has complied with the closed session provisions of the Act. Council has appointed Local Authority Services (LAS) Ltd. as our closed meeting investigator, and LAS has contracted with Aird & Berlis as service provider for the Closed Meeting Investigator Program. A request form is attached here.

For additional information on any of the accountability and transparency measures noted above, or submissions for investigations, please contact clerk@haldimandcounty.on.ca or mail in the completed form addressed to:

Clerk, Haldimand County
53 Thorburn St. S.
Cayuga, ON N0A 1E0