Belleville publishes some meeting recordings online, but others stay offline

Belleville posts recordings for only some committee meetings on its YouTube channel. Publication is inconsistent: some committees’ meetings are no longer posted, at least one committee is recorded but not published, and many meetings are never posted at all. These inconsistencies raise questions about whether the City has any clear policy on recording and publishing committee meetings.

Recorded and published

• Committee of the Whole (Regular Council)
• Planning Advisory Committee
• Council Planning Committee
• Committee of Adjustment

Used to be recorded and published

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee – recordings stopped being published in 2022

Held in recording-enabled Council Chambers, but not published

• Belleville Police Services Board

Recorded, but not published

Property Standards Committee meetings are held in Council Chambers.

Belleville’s Committee of Adjustment and Property Standards Committee are the same committee with the same members:

Property Standards Committee meetings start at 3:00PM and Committee of Adjustment meetings take place immediately after at 3:30PM. The Committee of Adjustment meeting recordings are made publicly available on YouTube:

The Property Standards Committee meeting that took place immediately following was recorded, but the video was set to “Unlisted” status in YouTube settings is hidden from the public unless you have a direct link to it:

The CivicWeb portal shows that the video is unavailable because it is set to “private”:

Not published

• Accessibility Advisory Committee
• Bay of Quinte Regional Marketing Board
• Belleville Downtown Improvement Area Board
• Departmental Performance Standards/Hiring Policies & Practices Review Committee
• E-9-1-1 Committee
• Economic Development Committee
• Emergency Management Program Committee
• Finance Committee
• Green Task Force
• Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
• Heritage Committee
• Lighting Display Committee
• Museum Services Advisory Committee
• Stirling & District Recreation Centre
• Transit Operations Advisory Committee
• Transportation Committee
• Quinte Conservation Authority
• Quinte Economic Development Commission (QEDC)
• Quinte Source Protection Committee
• Youth Engagement Committee

Meeting recordings are optional, but recommended

Municipal meetings must be open to the public, but meeting recordings are optional. Ontario Ombudsman recommends that all municipalities make audio recordings or video recordings of all meetings – both open and closed – to ensure a thorough record.

Belleville’s Procedural Bylaw states that every meeting held in Council Chambers may be electronically recorded and broadcast live to the public:

Recording/Streaming of Meetings

All Meetings of Council, Boards, Committees and Special Committees, save and except Closed Session Meetings, held in Council Chambers may be electronically recorded for the purpose of preparing the minutes of the meeting and may be broadcast live to the public by live audio and video streaming

Section 6.4 of the Belleville Procedural By-law

Other municipalities publish recordings of all committee meetings

Hastings County

Hastings County upgraded the recording equipment in Council Chambers in 2025 and is publishing committee meeting recordings to YouTube as of November 2025.