How council uses its power · Town money, debt and taxes

Who Watches the Watchers?

Full title: Who Watches the Watchers? · Written by John Farrugia

First publishedNovember 2, 2026

Last updatedNovember 2, 2026

Records checked up toOctober 31, 2026

Full report15 pages, with every source

This report explains the town's contract with one law firm for its Integrity Commissioner, Closed Meeting Investigator, Ombudsman and whistleblower contact: how the firm was chosen, what it has done and cost, and what the new Council must decide before the contract ends on December 31, 2026.

What happened

Since October 2022 one Toronto law firm, Aird & Berlis LLP, has been the town's Code of Conduct, and gives members private advice on ethics and conflicts of interest.">Integrity Commissioner, Closed Meeting Investigator and municipal Ombudsman. In September 2025 Council added the new whistleblower role and extended the appointment to December 31, 2026 without calling for bids.
The law requires only the Integrity Commissioner. If a town names no Closed Meeting Investigator or Ombudsman, the Ontario Ombudsman does that work for free; it does closed meeting work for 282 of Ontario's 444 municipalities.
On September 15, 2025 Councillor Derbyshire asked whether the Ontario Ombudsman could take some of the roles. The Clerk said she would look into it. No answer has come back to Council in the public record.
From January 2024 to September 2026 the town paid the firm $70,672.95 in 16 payments. Only $7,018.32 is labelled Integrity Commissioner work; the rest is labelled legal or professional services. No yearly activity report has been published, and costs are not broken down by role.
The firm has also done other work for the town: it rewrote the Code of Conduct in 2023 and reviewed the Procedure By-law in 2025. Since 2024 two of its planning lawyers have acted for a developer appealing the town's new Official Plan, which the firm's standard terms allow.
The report also looks at the 2022 changeover, when Queen Street residents asked for a closed meeting investigation about the $17,500 sewer connection charge, and at three gaps in the record.

Why it matters to you

These offices are where residents take complaints about council members' conduct, closed meetings and how the town treated them. The contract ends about six weeks after the new Council takes office, and the new Council has one regular meeting scheduled before then. The report shows no rule being broken; it sets out what the record shows and what it doesn't, and gives a possible innocent explanation for each open question.

Words with a dotted underline: tap them to see what they mean.

What the evidence shows

Shown in recordsTown documents, minutes or other official records show this.Reported, not provenSaid in the news, by a person, or claimed in court. Not proven by records.Still unansweredA question the records do not answer yet.

Shown in recordsAird & Berlis LLP holds all four watchdog roles. Council appointed it in 2022 after a call for bids, and in September 2025 extended it to December 31, 2026 and added the whistleblower role without new bids. None of these decisions was a recorded vote. page 4
Shown in recordsOnly the Integrity Commissioner is required by law. Where a town names no Closed Meeting Investigator or Ombudsman, the Ontario Ombudsman does that work at no charge. page 3
Shown in recordsFrom January 2024 to September 24, 2026 the town paid the firm $70,672.95; $7,018.32 of it is labelled Integrity Commissioner work. That is 5.7% of the $1.25 million the town paid for legal services in that period. page 7
Shown in recordsNo yearly or activity report from any of the three offices appears in Council minutes or agendas from 2020 to September 2026, though the town's web page says the Integrity Commissioner will provide reports summarizing activities. page 7
Still unansweredOn September 15, 2025 Councillor Derbyshire asked whether the Ontario Ombudsman could take some of the roles. The Clerk said she would look into it; no report back appears in the public record. page 8
Shown in recordsThe firm reviewed and, in the CAO's words, 'basically rewrote' the 2023 Code of Conduct, and in January 2025, as Integrity Commissioner, applied that Code to a complaint and found no breach. page 10
Shown in recordsSince at least April 2024 two of the firm's planning lawyers have acted for Sifton Properties in its appeal of the town's new Official Plan. The firm's standard terms allow this; the 2025 staff report recommending the reappointment doesn't mention it. page 10
Still unansweredNo public document shows how the firm keeps its watchdog work separate from its other work for the town. Its retainer says it does a conflict search before each investigation and will step aside where it was involved. page 10
Shown in recordsIn February 2022 Queen Street residents' closed meeting requests about the sewer charge were declared 'incomplete' in a reply from the CAO/Clerk, written at the new investigator's direction. The approved minutes of February 7, 2022 list all nine members as present, while the meeting video and a councillor's later remark say two were absent. page 5
Still unansweredNo Annual Report of closed-session items released to the public was found, although the Procedure By-law requires the Clerk to prepare one. page 11

Key numbers

Watchdog roles held by one firm4 page 3

Paid to the firm, Jan 2024 to Sep 2026$70,672.95 (16 payments) page 7

Of which labelled Integrity Commissioner$7,018.32 page 7

Hourly rates in the 2025 retainer$425 to $920 page 7

Contract endsDecember 31, 2026 page 12

Regular Council meetings before then1 (December 7) page 12

Still unanswered

Whether a call for bids will go out, or the contract will be renewed or extended, before December 31, 2026.
How much the town has paid for each role, and what the 2023 Integrity Commissioner spending of $26,414 covered.
How many complaints and requests each office has received and turned down.
Whether the firm keeps its watchdog work separate from its other work for the town, and whether it told the town about the planning appeal before the 2025 reappointment.
The answer to Councillor Derbyshire's September 2025 question about the Ontario Ombudsman. Questions were sent to the Clerk on November 1, 2026.

What's in the full report

In short page 2
Words used in this report page 3
1. The oversight contract page 3
How the town got here page 4
The 2022 changeover and the first requests it received page 4
What the firm has done for the town page 6
What it costs page 7
The question Council asked, and the answer it hasn't had page 8
What other Middlesex County municipalities do page 8
One firm in every role: the independence question page 8
2. Questions the record leaves open page 11
3. What happens next page 12
References - clickable links page 12
Updates and corrections page 15

Words used in this report

Integrity Commissioner: Looks into complaints that a council member broke the Code of Conduct, and gives members private advice on ethics and conflicts of interest.
Closed Meeting Investigator: Looks into complaints that Council met in private when the law didn't allow it.
Municipal Ombudsman: Looks into complaints about how the town's staff and services treated someone.
Ontario Ombudsman: The province's independent watchdog. It does closed meeting and ombudsman work for free for any town that doesn't name its own.
Whistleblower contact: An outside place where town staff can report wrongdoing.
Code of Conduct: The town's rules for how council members must behave.
Procedure By-law: The town's rules for how Council meetings are run.
Retainer: The letter setting out the firm's fees and terms of work.
Request for Proposals: A public call for companies to bid for a contract, also called a tender.
Ontario Land Tribunal: The provincial body that hears appeals of planning decisions.
Payment listings: The lists of town payments attached to Council agendas.
Machine captions: Text made automatically by computer from meeting video. They can contain errors and were not checked by ear.
Possible innocent explanation: A reasonable, harmless reason that could explain something that looks odd. It is not a finding: Council Watch doesn't know whether it is the true reason.

Updates and corrections

Every change to this report is listed here. An Update adds new information. A Correction fixes a mistake. A Minor change is wording, layout or branding only.

Original publication November 2, 2026
First published. Questions were sent to the Clerk on November 1, 2026; answers will be added as dated updates.

This page is a short guide to the full report. If they ever seem to differ, the full report is the record. Questions or corrections: [email protected].