The province is bringing in a raft of changes to the way municipalities and their councils operate.

While some changes are considered housekeeping, others will have a more substantial impact on how councillors conduct their business.

The changes are part of Bill 68, known as the Modernizing Ontario’s Municipal Legislation Act, designed to empower towns and cities to be more open, accountable and flexible in responding to the needs of residents. Some of the new rules took effect January 1 while others won’t begin until March 2019.

City council has taken steps to begin updating its procedural rules and other bylaws to reflect the incoming provincial changes. Here’s a look at some of the new rules in store for Kingston:

City Hall updates procedural rules to reflect new provincial law

Integrity Commissioner

It will soon be mandatory for all municipalities to provide access to an integrity commissioner, something Kingston has already done with the hiring of a private firm, Principles Integrity, to provide advice, education and to investigate matters of council conduct, partly based on internal or public complaints.

Likewise, Codes of Conduct for members of council and local boards will no longer be optional.

Closed Meetings

Municipal governments will have four more discretionary reasons to discuss business out of the public eye.

In-camera meetings will be allowed on additional grounds, including; 1) to discuss information explicitly supplied in confidence to the city; 2) a contractual-based trade secret or scientific, technical, commercial, financial or labour relations information; 3) a trade secret or scientific, technical, commercial or financial information that belongs to the city or local board and has monetary value or potential monetary value, and; 4) a position or instruction to be applied to any negotiations on behalf of the city.

Pregnancy/Parental Leave

The current law requires an elected official to get prior permission for an extended leave of absence, or they could lose their seat. The new rules do not require any special council resolution for an extended leave of up to 20 weeks due to pregnancy, the birth of a child or adoption of a child.

Climate Change

Municipalities can pass bylaws for the protection and conservation of the environment, including requiring green construction standards to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in the Building Code. They must also maintain a policy to protect and enhance the tree canopy and natural vegetation.

Council Term

Starting with the 2018 election in October, the council’s term of office will begin on November 15 rather than in early December. This change is meant to shorten the ‘lame duck’ period of the outgoing council. As for election campaigns, the maximum contribution to a candidate increases from $750 to $1,200.

Tax Sale Changes

The period of tax arrears before the city can start the tax sale process has been reduced from three years to two years. This will allow municipalities to move faster to try and recoup lost taxes from properties such as those that have been abandoned by the owners. In addition, the city can now apply unpaid administrative fees related to a bylaw offence directly onto someone’s tax bill.