At their June 18 meeting, District Municipality of Muskoka councillors were presented with an amendment to their procedural bylaw which, at the District of Muskoka chair’s discretion, would enable councillors dealing with medical issues to attend meetings remotely for an extended period.
If the amendment is passed, those dealing with medical issues, but still able and willing to attend council meetings virtually, would make a formal written request to the chair.
The chair would also have the ability to impose a limit or set a timeline for the councillor’s return.
Concerns were expressed that such an amendment could be misused. Georgian Bay Councillor Brian Bochek said some may look at the amendment as an opportunity to live outside of the region yet still attend meetings virtually.
“We only have one member of our council that lives in our township as a permanent resident. The rest are secondary residents. So they have a second home,” said Bochek. “I feel it’s important for the recruitment of locals to get engaged with their community, that it wouldn’t be fair to offer unlimited access via Zoom because they’d never show up to any meetings,” he added.
District of Muskoka Chair Jeff Lehman noted that a special request in writing does have to be made and the exception would only apply to an illness or required medical treatments.
He said if someone moves their home out of the municipality, they may become ineligible depending on the circumstances. “… the point is, it’s only for medical circumstances,” said Lehman.
According to District of Muskoka Clerk Amy Black, the current District bylaw states that a councillor may attend a maximum of three council and three of their respective committee meetings virtually per year. Black noted that if a meeting is scheduled entirely virtually, it does not count towards the limit of three annual meetings.
“The amended that was discussed this past Monday would allow the District Cir to grant additional virtual attendance due to illness or related treatments,” noted Black in follow up conversation.
Council is expected to vote on the matter at its July meeting.
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