Belleville Police Service Board sub-committees meet without providing public notice as required by CSPA

Belleville Police Services Board (BPSB) has a number of its own committees with members of board assigned to them:

• Budget Committee – “THAT Ms Harnden and Councillor Enright Miller supported by the appropriate personnel, be appointed to the Belleville Police Service Board’s 2025 Budget Committee.” “The 2026 Capital Budget Proposal was reviewed and approved by the Police Service Board budget committee at a meeting held on September 2, 2025.”
• Negotiation Committee – “THAT Mr O’Brien supported by the appropriate personnel, be appointed to the Belleville Police Service Board’s 2025 Negotiation Committee”
• Strategic Safety Plan Committee – “THAT Ms Harnden and Councillor Enright Miller supported by the appropriate personnel, be appointed to the Belleville Police Service Board’s 2025 Strategic Safety Plan Committee”
• Policy Review Committee – “THAT Chair Smith and Councillor Enright Miller, supported by the appropriate personnel, be appointed to the Belleville Police Service Board’s 2025 Policy Review Committee”
• Finance Committee – “Attached are the second quarter financial reports approved by the Board Finance Committee in July” “Attached is the 10 Year Capital Budget Proposal approved by the PSB Finance Committee on September 10, 2024“
• Operational Calls for Service Review Committee – “formed in early 2023, involving both sworn and civilian members of the Belleville Police Service”

These board sub-committees make review options and make decisions before they are decided by the BPSB. The budget committee is involved in preparing and approving police operating and capital budget estimates which in 2025 were $29M and $1M.

These committees are not listed on the BPSB website and their Terms of Reference, meeting agendas and minutes are also not publicly available.

Board committee meetings must be open to the public by default and notice must be provided

Section 43 of the Community Safety and Policing Act and Belleville’s Procedural Bylaw require that all committee meetings conducted by the police service board, or by a committee of the board:

• Are open to the public by default
• Provide notice of the meeting that is open to the public on the website a minimum of 7 days in advance.
• The notice must include:
  • Location, time and date
  • Meeting agenda
  • Minutes of the previous meeting or instructions on how the public may access them.

(3) Subject to section 44, meetings conducted by the police service board, or by a committee of the board, shall be open to the public.

(5) The police service board or the committee, as applicable, shall publish notice of a meeting that is open to the public on the Internet, subject to the regulations made by the Minister, if any.

(6) The notice shall be published at least seven days before the meeting, except in extraordinary circumstances.

Section 43 of the Community Safety and Policing Act

10.4 Notice of Meetings of Committees
(1) Notice of a committee meeting shall be provided through:

• (i) release of a meeting agenda for the meeting; and
• (ii) posting of the time and date of the meeting on the City’s web site.

(2) Where an agenda is released prior to a meeting, the committee secretary shall:

• (i) make available the meeting agenda to the local news media and all persons who have requested a copy;
• (ii) maintain copies of the meeting agenda in the office of the secretary for review by members of the public; and
• (iii) endeavour to post the meeting agenda on the City’s web site.

(3) Where a meeting agenda will not be released prior to the meeting, in lieu of the release of a meeting agenda, the committee secretary shall endeavour to provide notice by telephone call and/or written notice to the local news media and those who have requested a copy of meeting agendas.

(4) Lack of receipt of a notice of or meeting agenda for a committee meeting by any person shall not affect the validity of the meeting or any action lawfully taken at the meeting.

Belleville Procedural Bylaw

Next steps

1. Request that the board update their website with the sub-committees and their Terms of Reference, members, agendas and minutes.
2. If necessary, submit a closed meeting complaint to the Ontario Ombudsman: https://ombudsman.on.ca/en/make-complaint/file-your-complaint