The City of Belleville’s news section on publishes official announcements from City Hall:
These updates are often, not not always published to the City’s social media profiles with a link back to the post:
Clicking the link in that Facebook post (https://bity.ly/42uqw8e) now leads to a “Page Not Found” error, which cites the launch of the new website as the reason the page is unavailable:
The broken link has nothing to do with the launch of a “new website” and isn’t a one-off.
Belleville only allows residents to read the last 6 months of the City’s official announcements before the posts are either are hidden or removed. Using the search function of the website to find announcements older than 6 months returns nothing:
You can go to Open Council’s Belleville announcements section where we have archived many past announcements such as this one and try visiting a link to its source, which will also return a Page Not Found error:
We asked Belleville’s Communications department why older announcements are no longer accessible
They provided the following response:
Thank you for your message and for your interest in the City’s communications.
The City has always aimed to be transparent in sharing news and official updates. Historically, older announcements have been removed from our website once they were no longer current, to help keep the most relevant information front and centre.
As part of our ongoing efforts to improve access and clarity, the City is implementing a standard practice of retaining public announcements for one year.
We appreciate your engagement and continued interest in staying informed.
Open Council’s response to Communications
You mentioned that older announcements are removed “to help keep the most relevant information front and centre.” However, the City’s News section already sorts announcements by most recent, and the website includes built-in search, date filtering, and categorization. These tools ensure current information remains visible, without requiring the removal of past notices.
Many archived announcements remain relevant to residents well beyond six months. For example:
- Belleville Transit Introduces New Reloadable Smartcard
- City of Belleville Fireworks By-law Reminder
- The City of Belleville Signs Jack Moher to Doctor Recruitment Program
- Construction Scam Public Service Announcement
- City of Belleville Ratifies Agreement with CUPE Local 907
- New Zoning By-law 2024-100 Now in Effect
- Collaboration Continues Between the City and Belleville Chamber of Commerce
You noted that the City is implementing a “standard practice of retaining public announcements for one year.” Could you clarify what policy or directive establishes this practice?
Removing official announcements from public view undermines transparency and accountability. I would encourage the City to consider maintaining a full, publicly accessible archive of its news releases instead of placing an artificial expiry date on them.
They have not responded to this email.
Belleville’s official announcements are now made available for 1 year before they are hidden from public view.
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