Lambton County municipalities are considering hiring an integrity commissioner together.
The provincial government is changing the Ontario Municipal Act to force all municipalities to have a code of conduct for councillors and an integrity commissioner to handle any complaints which arise from the public because of the new code of conduct.
Janet Denkers, the administrator at Brooke-Alvinston says the Lambton administrators feel it would benefit everyone to have one integrity commissioner on retainer for the group instead of having each pay their own yearly fees on top of any investigation.
Denkers says the municipality already pays a retainer for an investigator in the event anyone complains about the closed door meetings the municipalities have. Denkers couldn’t say when the investigator was last used in Brooke-Alvinston. “We have an investigator on a three year term with a $330 retainer and if it would be $225 per hour for an investigation. We will be holding a lot of people on retainer.”
Denkers suggested, and council agreed, not to renew the closed door meeting investigator’s contract for the time being.  If there is a public complaint about how the municipality does its business behind closed doors, it will go to the Ontario Ombudsman.
It is not clear when the Lambton municipalities will hire an integrity commissioner and who that will be.