North Bay City Council has resolved to support a motion that originated from the Town of Parry Sound regarding desired amendments to the Legislation Act, 2006.
The Act states public notices must be published in a local newspaper. The motion seeks to make online publications an acceptable means of complying with public notice requirements and garnered the full support of the council.
"A municipality's public website is going to be a better way to share our public notices," said Councillor Mac Bain, the mover, in support of removing the antiquated mandatory posting of the notices in a local newspaper.
"Because of consolidation and some closures across Ontario in the newspaper industry, there are lots of communities that don't have a local newspaper," Bain continued. "Not everybody has the ability to get the newspaper or receives the newspaper and, so, they don't see the public notices."
All 444 municipalities across the province, even those with populations under 1,000, have websites, Bain shared. "This resolution says that we will use the city's website."
A copy of the resolution will be sent to Paul Calandra, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, MPP Victor Fedeli, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM), the Ontario Small Urban Municipalities and the Town of Parry Sound.