City Clerk be directed, in collaboration with the Integrity Commissioner…

2:50:03no no lobbying yeah okay we're at the last one the IC report was pulled by

2:50:12councillor I Katen now I know you have a couple of motions for us to consider that

2:50:19you floated around may I look to you to move though the receipt of the IC

2:50:24report to get to your motions yes it's I'm a building to second that alt thank

2:50:31you sir anything on that before I go no I will call the vote does anyone against

2:50:39the IC report no that's unanimous over to you councillor Caton on a couple of

2:50:45motions to float thanks through you mr. Mayor I have motion that I've broken

2:50:53into two that the city clerk be directed in collaboration with the integrity

2:50:59commissioner to review the code of conduct for council and local boards

2:51:02and the use of corporate resources during election policy as they relate to the

2:51:07use of personal versus corporate social media accounts and administered groups

2:51:11and report back as a part of the 2025 governance review and the second one is

2:51:16that the general manager of strategic communications and community engagement

2:51:21be directed to offer social media training including accessibility standards

2:51:26and guidelines to members of city council I believe these are going to be

2:51:30seconded by councillor Allt I just wanted to chat a little bit about them if I

2:51:35have time for that right now no no you yep I'm not stopping you you go right

2:51:40ahead yep yep so I think that ethics integrity and accessibility of

2:51:46communications with residents are always important whether we're using

2:51:50personal accounts or corporate accounts and having standards that include

2:51:54social media use for behavior and proper training on accessibility ensures

2:51:58we're doing the best possible for all residents who rely on us to provide

2:52:02information where they are and how they need it our current policies for

2:52:07integrity and actions are in need of review to make them more robust and

2:52:10inclusive of social media we need timely training on accessibility and to make

2:52:16sure that our social media behavior is included in the 2025 governance review of

2:52:20both policies thanks thank you so any questions about this before I call the

2:52:26vote on both of those Kate Klosson yes thank you through you mr. mayor to

2:52:33councillor Caton I had a question with regard to the language of the motion

2:52:38would the review strictly be for the use of media social media accounts during

2:52:45elections or would it be more broad it's supposed to be for both the

2:52:52integrity use and during the election so the two policies okay thank you Gibson

2:53:00yeah thank you through you mr. mayor I'm a question to the mover I guess my

2:53:04question is around the corporate social media what what is a corporate social

2:53:08media account I'm not aware of anybody on council that has a corporate social

2:53:13media account so right now all of our accounts are considered personal we

2:53:19don't really have a policy for councillor council versus personal accounts

2:53:24and so that kind of calls into question a lot of things within the elections so

2:53:29this is kind of the definitions that I'm hoping that clerk can take back and then

2:53:35bring back to us so that we have some options that we can discuss okay thank

2:53:42you one more question to you mr. mayor I'm aware of corporate issued devices as

2:53:47a concern during elections but I guess my question is does anything preclude you

2:53:54from just asking the integrity commissioner these questions do we need

2:53:58a direction from council well they can't I've been to the integrity commission

2:54:03many times with many questions just for personal clarification I didn't need to

2:54:06come to council for direction well I'm asking for them to review the policies

2:54:11so they just go based on what the policy is currently they don't change the

2:54:14policy so I'm asking for them to work with the clerks to review the policy and

2:54:20include social media use which is currently kind of a gray area council

2:54:32all it was it's an interesting question to councillor Gibson's brought up but I

2:54:36think that there is much more to what council can do because we are asking

2:54:42for staff to please consider what is appropriate and what isn't appropriate

2:54:47with regards to the use of social media when we ask the integrity commissioner

2:54:51there's no action that comes out of it so this is essentially an action item

2:54:55coming from council asking staff to please review this for the purposes of

2:55:00making a recommendation that doesn't occur with an integrity commissioner

2:55:04question okay thank you for your thoughts a counselor Gibson now thank you I'm

2:55:10going to engage staff a little bit sorry if the integrity commissioner gives us

2:55:15no further direction can I ask does staff have thoughts on would you give a

2:55:21would you give recommendations to council on you know how they would be

2:55:25asking that we have a code of conduct right we have a code of conduct that we

2:55:28have to abide by excuse me I just ask a quick question of clarity first of all I

2:55:34don't know if it is the deputy CEO that would answer or our clerks but but are

2:55:39you asking in the context of the motion so during an election to make sure we're

2:55:44framing the questions properly that's all sure let me elaborate under the

2:55:49during an election corporate resources during election policy would staff have

2:55:53recommendations or advice to council on on on how to do the outside of what the

2:55:58integrity commissioner would cite in terms of code of conduct if you may I

2:56:03go through to counsel Gibson I'm a bit lost in the clarity that you're seeking

2:56:07because I think the discussion was pertaining to the integrity of social

2:56:13media accounts and use of corporate devices writ large and then I think this

2:56:17last clarifying point has brought it into during an election so I'm just

2:56:21looking for clarity as to what is the specific nature of your question yeah

2:56:25thank you I guess I'm just trying to drill down on what advice staff would be

2:56:29looking to give us during an election as it relates to personal versus corporate

2:56:35social media accounts which I don't believe any of us have a corporate

2:56:38social media account so what what advice could count what advice could staff give

2:56:43us outside of the code of conduct for any kind of behavior I guess through you

2:56:51Mr. Merida counselor Gibson there are other municipalities in Ontario that

2:56:55have more specific provisions than the city of Guelph with regard to how social

2:56:59media is managed during an election we would do a comparative review we'd look

2:57:03at those municipalities and we'd consider with the integrity commissioner

2:57:07whether any changes like that would be appropriate for Guelph or not I guess

2:57:12that's the answer I was looking for thank you I think that was it am I right

2:57:18oh sorry councillor buildings and through you Mr. Mayor to to the clerk city clerk

2:57:27so we've recently just had a new investigation this is the code of

2:57:33conduct on social media did the integrity commissioner give us any

2:57:40advice or changes he'd like to see to the code of conduct because usually an

2:57:45integrity commissioner after they do an investigation if they see any issues

2:57:48problems they they bring forward suggestions for a change so did that

2:57:55happen in the last investigation that the integrity commissioner actually

2:58:00suggested changes to the code through you Mr. Mayor to councillor villains

2:58:05there was no requested changes from the integrity commissioner resulting from

2:58:09this most recent investigation okay and then another question that I have is

2:58:16that in clause one I see it as two separate entities there's the code of

2:58:22conduct and then there's the election policy so if we supported one being done

2:58:29and not the other then could I ask Mr. Mayor that they be separated I'm sure

2:58:41it's fine can the clerks just write it that way for us would you mind yeah

2:58:46through you Mr. Mayor if the mover is comfortable we'd simply suggest splitting

2:58:51that into three separate resolutions one for the code of conduct one for the use

2:58:54of corporate resources during an election and then the remaining third

2:58:57item but that would yeah that's under the procedure by lobby at the discretion

2:59:01of the mover I'll ask the mover to change

2:59:04councillor Caton would you be okay then instead of two three emotions yeah I'm

2:59:08fine with that okay I'll just give the clerks a moment to add a period and add

2:59:17a number two and a number three yep just take yep just take a minute oh sorry

2:59:27councillor Caron was the last on my list so while they're they're just editing

2:59:32that you can go ahead I just want a little bit more clarity I know there was

2:59:37a question about what the definition of corporate corporate social media account

2:59:41is and then councillor Billings asked about whether there were any

2:59:45recommendations coming out of the report and although there weren't specific

2:59:49recommendations there were issues and questions raised in that report regarding

2:59:55social media accounts that were used for corporate purposes or for City Hall

3:00:02business even though there's no corporate sponsored account nobody registers our

3:00:07social media nobody monitors nobody provides content nobody owns the site we

3:00:12own our own social media there are social media accounts for personal use and for

3:00:19city business city council use and so when we do the definition if we're

3:00:25looking at best practices and we we always in any of our bylaws we always

3:00:30have definitions and terminologies I just want to be sure that that definition

3:00:35of corporate social media is not an account that's owned and operated by the

3:00:40corporation but an account that is used primarily for the use of business related

3:00:46to the corporation and I think that's a really important distinction for me

3:00:50because like most of us we have we have accounts that we use for the most part

3:00:57well in my case 100% for city business and then other accounts that are personal

3:01:03and private and I think that's the definition that's so crucial when we're

3:01:07opening up this can of worms so clerks can you if this motion if these are these

3:01:16particular motions pass you would engage with the integrity commissioner around

3:01:20that thank you okay so Councillor Caron you're not in the room so I just your

3:01:23heads are nodding okay nodding positively just because you can't see

3:01:28nodding one way or the other did you get that done the splitting okay okay well

3:01:37oh I'm so sorry Councillor Boussagell then I'll call the vote sorry go ahead

3:01:40no thank you and through through the mayor this question actually might be for

3:01:43you I know a long time ago we discussed about you know the erosion of print media

3:01:47and community desperate for information about city councillors having websites

3:01:52city is this part of that overall look at and our community engagement framework

3:01:58us as councillors is really extensions of that communication engagement

3:02:03framework is that work happening and is this going to fold into this or is this

3:02:07a new new initiative I think what you're bringing up is valid which we've talked

3:02:11about before but not referencing what's on the table right now but you're on to

3:02:17something in the grand scheme of communications yes I would agree with

3:02:20you yeah sorry Councillor Billings did I skip you I'm sorry back to you that's

3:02:25okay a second actually I guess now would be the third clause and it's the

3:02:30training so my question is through your worship to to staff if a member of

3:02:36council right now wanted this media training would with city staff not

3:02:42provided through Mayor Guthrie to Councillor Billings in conversations

3:02:51with the general manager of strategic communications and community engagement

3:02:54we would be putting together a training session and module for the

3:02:59continuous education of council so we certainly can work that in and find out

3:03:04when the best time to offer that particular training would be but as of

3:03:07the current moment we don't have a particular program set up for training

3:03:10for council thank you okay so why don't we throw the three motions up on the

3:03:19screen okay yep there are three separate slides the Kirk's has said so that the

3:03:27Kirk be directed in collaboration with the integrity commissioner to review the

3:03:30code of conduct for council as it relates to the use of personal versus

3:03:33corporate social media accounts and administered group and report back as

3:03:37part of the 2025 governance review okay so I'll oh sorry this is the number one

3:03:44up on the screen let's go one at a time okay okay so it's already been moved and

3:03:48seconded and I'll call the vote on that is there is there anyone against that

3:03:56okay perfect so that's unanimous and then the second one is I'm sorry I forget

3:04:03what the second one is oh yeah so this one is basically the same but it's about

3:04:08corporate resources during the election election policy as it relates to the use

3:04:12of personal versus corporate social media accounts and administered groups and

3:04:14report back as part of the 2020 governance review so on this particular

3:04:19one just before I call the vote sorry just jump in on this one this one I've

3:04:23already mentioned this a year or so ago I think and I whispered to you guys when

3:04:28there's other cities you've probably heard me say Toronto so what what I what I

3:04:32did actually appreciate about the Toronto policy and I'm trying to go by

3:04:37memory but it basically said like if anybody you know if any 13 of us were

3:04:43wanting to actually put our name forward the policy states that if you're putting

3:04:48your name forward for reelection then you must identify your accounts

3:04:51immediately as not connected to your role as a city council or a mayor and

3:04:58that you can you can use it for for for election period for election reasons but

3:05:03you must identify it that it is separate and so I think anyways there's that

3:05:08policies available online I think if you just google it you can find it I haven't

3:05:11looked at it in a long time but I thought I thought that was relevant because I

3:05:14remember in you know during the election I remember myself doing that and of

3:05:18course I was found to not have there was no rules that I broke there at all in

3:05:22fact I basically kind of followed the Toronto model but the only difference I

3:05:27would say is is that it was done at the time of registration as as an actual

3:05:32candidate so I think that's to me actually that makes more fairer sense to

3:05:38to make sure that everyone's playing by those same rules so that's that's fair

3:05:41moving forward for whoever wants to do that anyways that's my position on that

3:05:45I think that's fair so I'll call the vote on that one is anyone against that one

3:05:49no okay and then the third one is about the social media for accessibility

3:05:57standards guidelines for members of city council you know on this one it's

3:06:07learning new tips and tricks of the trade but also adhering to options of

3:06:13making it easier to communicate further to other people sounds good to me right

3:06:17if it's an off in fact the wording is I don't have it up on the screen right now

3:06:21but the wording is can you put it back up I think I saw a word in there nope the

3:06:32third one if you don't mind thanks yeah the word offer that's an important word

3:06:40actually I mean technically none of us could say take take anyone up on the

3:06:45offer so I certainly will but I'm just saying that that's what that's that's

3:06:50the word that jumped out at me right so that's fine okay so I'll call the vote

3:06:54on that one then is anyone against that one no thanks Councillor Caton those are

3:07:01all unanimous thank you okay 658 almost seven o'clock