City of London

The Ombudsman received a complaint that members of council for the City of London met improperly behind closed doors ahead of a meeting of the city’s Corporate Services Committee (“the Committee”) on October 12, 2021. The complainant told us they believed that members met outside of a formal council or committee meeting to discuss filling a vacant council seat with a specific individual since members of the public knew to provide letters of support to council on that subject ahead of the meeting on October 12, 2021. The vacancy had been announced publicly in September 2021 and had also been reported in the media around the same time. The Ombudsman found no evidence that the Committee or council met privately to discuss the vacancy in advance of the Committee meeting on October 12, 2021. Therefore, the City did not contravene the open meeting requirements under the Municipal Act, 2001.

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