Essex county council mulls policies on public conduct after cancelled meeting
CBC
Three new policies up for consideration at Essex county council aim to tamp down on "frivolous, vexatious and unreasonable" behaviour by the public, if approved Wednesday night.
Council will consider approving a code of conduct, and visitor and trespassing policies that would apply to members of the public. The policies come after a county council meeting last month was cut short due to capacity issues, with hundreds in attendance.
There were concerns among attendees about the idea of 15-minute cities — an urban planning concept that has become linked to what experts describe as conspiracy theories around government control. The topic was not on the agenda and officials say they aren't considering the policy.
"There were people that wanted to speak that couldn't speak because of the intimidation," said Hilda MacDonald, Essex County Warden."
"There was yelling, there was swearing, There was constant disruption of the speakers."
"My colleagues to my right, they heard the threats, you know, talking about storming the chambers. We can't have that kind of atmosphere when we're wanting to have public discussion."
The draft code of conduct policy prohibits behaviour that is "frivolous," "vexatious" or "unreasonable" but specifies that the intention is to limit very specific behaviour. And that it will not be used to limit people who might be deemed difficult.
The visitor policy would require visitors to county buildings to go through security screening and sign-in. It also prohibits bringing weapons, and air horns or megaphones.
The trespass policy would give the county the ability to issue a trespassing notice to people who don't follow county policies. It could also be used to prevent aggression, intimidating behaviour, bullying, harassment, coarse language and criminal behaviour.
The policies include descriptions of behaviour that could apply in each case, and a process for reporting the behaviour, notifying the person involved, potential restrictions — from limiting contact to legal action — and a reviews and appeals process.
Amherstburg resident Tye Chambers said he and his girlfriend attended last month's meeting, where council was looking to gather feedback from the community as part of a review of the county's Official Community Plan.
Chambers said he believes any comments considered threatening were misunderstood, and that attendees were yelling because they wanted to be heard.
"I think it's a little extreme. I understand if there was actually a threat that was going around and they were concerned about their safety, that I understand," Chambers said. "But the fact that it was just misconstrued, I think this is such a huge step to take just for confusion.
"I mean that sounds like a whole lot of extra effort for no real reason ... So I don't think it's really going to do anything, to be perfectly honest, except for slowing things down."
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