Township of Blandford-Blenheim Council received a notice regarding changes to its procedural by-law during the most recent Council meeting on Wednesday, October 7, 2026.
The item comes as Council prepares to repeal and replace Procedure By-law 1916-2015 during its first meeting of the new term on Wednesday, November 4, 2026. The by-law governs council and committee proceedings, rules and conduct.
“Staff have overhauled the by-law to modernize its structure, clarify procedural rules, increase accessibility of the document and ensure it aligns with current legislative requirements and best practices in municipal governance,” the report states. “An effective procedural by-law lays the groundwork for transparent, accessible and legislatively-sound proceedings at meetings.”
The proposed changes to the by-law stem from a June 3, 2026, meeting, where staff had been directed to explore the possibility of changing the regular Council meeting start time from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. to improve accessibility for both residents and prospective Council candidates.
“Upon reviewing the procedure by-law, which was first adopted in 2015, it became apparent that it contained some gap,” said Sarah Matheson, Township Clerk. “Staff are therefore recommending repealing the 2015 by-law and replacing it with an updated version, which lays the groundwork for accessible, transparent, and legislatively sound proceedings at Council meetings.”
With regular Council meetings set to move to 5 p.m. as of, or after November 15, other key changes or deviations from the 2015 by-law include:
- New definitions: “Force Majeure” and “Deputy Mayor”
The draft by-law now defines “Force Majeure” as “an event or circumstance beyond the reasonable control of the Township that prevents, materially impedes, or makes impracticable the holding of a meeting of Council, Committee or other municipal body, including, but not limited to, a natural disaster, severe weather event, fire, flood, epidemic or pandemic, declared emergency, war, civil disturbance, widespread power or telecommunications outage, or other event of a similar nature.”
The draft by-law also defines “Deputy Mayor” as “the member of Council elected to act in the place of the Head of Council (Mayor) when the Head of Council is absent or refuses to act or, when the office of the head of Council is vacant, and while so acting such member has all the power and duties of the head of Council, save and except for those established by part VI.1 of the Act.”
The Deputy Mayor will assume all powers and responsibilities of the Mayor, except those granted exclusively under Part VI.1 of the Municipal Act, if the Mayor is unable to perform their duties. The Deputy or Acting Mayor will chair all meetings during this time and may exercise these duties as allowed by the Act or any other applicable provincial law.”
- Livestream and Recording of Meetings
The draft by-law concludes that if the livestream of a Council meeting is interrupted, “Council may recess for up to 15 minutes to allow staff to restore the livestream. If the livestream cannot be restored within that time, the meeting may proceed, and a recording of the meeting may be made available following adjournment.”
- Council Curfew
Meetings starting at 5 p.m. will have a curfew of 8:30 p.m., although Council may extend the meeting until 9 p.m. with a majority vote. With that being said, “under no circumstances shall any business be dealt with after 9 p.m.
- Delegations
Delegates will be limited to a time period of 15 minutes each, including for questions from Council, except in the case of statutory public hearings with other procedural rules or guidelines.
- Notices of Motion
A Notice of Motion shall be given by a member of Council in writing to the Clerk prior to 5:00 p.m. seven days before the meeting they wish to introduce it at, along with a brief explanation supporting it.
This will allow enough time for the Notice of Motion to be published in advance, providing Council members and the public with the opportunity to review and consider the matter beforehand. However, a member of Council may introduce a motion without notice, if granted Council resolution with two-thirds majority.
- Conduct and Decorum of Members of the Public
The draft by-law states, “Members of the public attending a meeting shall respect decorum and refrain from outbursts, shouting, or behaviour intended to disrupt the debate, discussion and/or general proceedings of the Meeting.”
Members of the public must wait to speak until they are called upon and addressed by the Chair. The Chair may also expel any person for improper conduct at a meeting, and the Chair may unilaterally suspend the meeting until order is restored.
- Committees of Council
This section of the draft by-law states that from time-to-time, Council may establish a special-purpose advisory committee to consider matters within specified areas of interest or jurisdiction.
“Each advisory committee shall act under the authority and direction of Council and shall not be established until Council has approved its Terms of Reference,” the by-law states.
Before voting to receive the report, Mayor Mark Peterson shared a few of his thoughts.
Speaking to the curfew he said, “We brought that to effect at the County level. It’s maybe not as prevalent here as it would be in the County, …but I think it’s a great idea because when the meetings go for three, four, or even five hours, the fatigue does start to set in. And we want to make sure that the right decisions are made, not because somebody is possibly tired and wants to get out of here.”
He added he also liked the new definition of Force Majeure.
“We had some issues here with that storm that came on September 2, so now this gives us the right, if that happens again, to walk away from our meeting,” he said.
The vote to receive the report and allow for the updated 2015 by-law to be voted on during the November 4 meeting, was then carried.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
