COBALT – The Ontario Ombudsman has found Cobalt acted “illegally” in hosting a series of closed-door meetings last year to discuss the municipal budget.
Acting on a complaint received regarding the Town of Cobalt’s 2025 Budget Advisory Group, Ombudsman Paul Dubé launched an investigation last July. His findings, which were formally received by the town at its regular meeting on March 31, declare the municipality relied on “erroneous information” to rename the town’s budget committee as a budget advisory group to “allow them to have discussions without worrying about closed session items.”
The group met three times between March and April of last year and did not provide public notice or permit the public to attend. Dubé said the group was still technically a committee of council and subject to Municipal Act rules requiring meetings to be open to the public, since at least half of its members were also members of council.
“In reaching this conclusion, I have considered but do not agree with the advice given to the town by (consultant) E4M,” Dubé wrote.
“Further, the name or title assigned to the entity by a municipality has no bearing on whether or not it fits within the definition. Changing the name of a committee to call it an ‘advisory group,’ as the Town did in November 2023, does not exclude that entity from the definition of ‘committee.’”
“Municipalities are ultimately responsible for complying with the Act’s open meeting rules. Reliance on erroneous information does not absolve a municipality from non-compliance.”
OBLIGATIONS
Responding to the report at Cobalt’s March 31 public meeting, Cobalt Councillor Doug Wilcox suggested the council is obligated to respond to the findings. He noted one of Dubé’s recommendations is that the town is “required to pass a resolution stating how it intends to address this report.”
Municipal staff and Mayor Angela Adshead suggested the town is addressing the report by formally receiving it as part of its council proceedings, and complying with the requirement to make it public.
“Council might like to do more than that,” Wilcox said, encouraging further discussion of the findings.
Ultimately the resolution to formally receive the document and make it available on the town’s website was passed with no further comments from council.
By Joe O’Grady, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on Apr 08, 2026 at 11:55
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