Whetham unhappy meeting to hire lobbyist was private
Feb 4th, 2010 | By Debbie Vitez | Section: 2010 Municipal Candidates
This ran in the KW Record in 2008.. comments invited below
April 16, 2008
Record staff
CAMBRIDGE
Coun. Linda Whetham says Cambridge council held an improper closed meeting March 31 to talk about hiring a political lobbyist. “I could not stay for that meeting because I felt that discussions to hire a political lobbyist should not be held in a closed-door meeting,” she told council this week. She doesn’t agree with the rationale of “potential legal issues” that was used to keep the meeting closed. Councillors meet in private to talk about land purchases, legal proceedings or personnel issues. “Since when do we close a meeting to discuss hiring a consultant?” Nobody echoed her concerns.
link to story
http://news.therecord.com/article/337550
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The Mar 31/08 meeting was a special meeting called by the Mayor to have the Venice Bienniel presentation done. This meeting was not advertised to the public in the cities usual way on the city web site until after this meeting was held. An ombudsman complaint was made and an investigation produced a report that can be found on the city web site under the clerk heading. The report is called the Amberly Gavel report.
http://www.cambridge.ca/relatedDocs/Amberley%20Gavel%20Report%20July%2024%202008.pdf