Bayham eyes integrity cost

A letter from a resident resulted in a long discussion at Bayham council, Thursday, May 7, about the cost of integrity commissioner and closed-meeting investigations, and saw council examine its relations with the community.

Resident Marnie Wolfe wrote requesting action to better explain the closed meeting and integrity commissioner processes in plain language, provide guidance to those considering filing and provide examples of valid and invalid complaints.

Through Freedom of Information requests, she found the municipality spent about $40,000 on integrity commissioner complaints between 2023 and 2025, and estimated another $5,000 to $15,000 was added last year.

However, Clerk Alan Bushell cautioned council about getting involved in the process of the body that provides the checks and balances for council.

“If we start educating people if they should be going to the closed meeting investigator or the integrity commissioner, we are inserting ourselves in the conversation,” he said, adding this could be overstepping boundaries.

He suggested looking into what was available from the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and also checking with Bayham’s integrity commissioner.

For the full story, see the May 20 edition of The Aylmer Express.