By Trevor Falk

This is the first in a series of articles about the lack of information about the public business of the township of Chatsworth. In terms of providing such information, Chatsworth is easily the worst in Grey County, in my view.

I will provide numerous examples in this series. Many of the examples will be based on the case of the municipality's bio-digester, for the simple reason that I have followed that issue closely for more than two years.

But since this is the first of a series, I need to start with the basics – the information council has at meetings, and what council decides.

It is impossible for people to find out what happens at a Chatsworth Council meeting without attending it. (The requirement for attendance is, by itself, is a barrier to "open" information – I'll address that later in the series). But even people who make an effort to attend a meeting often come away with very little knowledge or understanding.

For example, here is the Agenda for the Chatsworth Council meeting on June 18, 2014: Chatsworth Council Agenda June 18, 2014. I call this a "bare" agenda, because it is just a list of topics. There are no attachments; that is, none of the reports to be discussed are provided with the agenda. An agenda like this is usually posted on the Chatsworth website two days before a meeting, and paper copies are available at the meeting itself.

Agenda Item 5 of the June 18 meeting shows that I was granted 10 minutes to make two presentations – one on the subject of Information for taxpayers, and one about the bio-digester. I complied with the request that I provide copies of these presentations two days in advance of that meeting.

The minutes of this meeting are what I call "bare" minutes – you will understand this term when you see them at: Chatsworth Council Minutes June 18, 2014. Notably, like the agenda, the minutes do not include any of the documents considered by council at the meeting. The presentation that I made about the bio-digester isn't even attached, even though the minutes say it is.

Chatsworth minutes contain no "narrative." By-Law 2014-36 that was passed at that meeting isn't explained in the minutes or attached to them, nor is it posted on the website ( Chatsworth By-Laws ), even 10 weeks later.

So, Chatsworth Council had an "open" meeting on June 18, 2014 but the leadership succeeded in revealing virtually nothing about what was discussed and decided. This is typical, in my experience.

I'm sure that if someone were to ask for a copy of by-Law 2014-36 or for a copy of one of my presentations, it would be provided – but this extra step is another impediment to the free and open access that provincial legislation requires.

In my next article, I will explain how Chatsworth implemented the June 18, 2014 decision to provide information in advance. Or more correctly, how they didn't implement it until I pointed out two months later that nothing had been done in that regard.

I am attaching a copy of my June 18, 2014 presentation to council, titled Making Information Available. If I were writing about any other municipality in Grey County, I could just provide a link to it on the municipal website, but not in Chatsworth.