Transcribing City Council Discussions for greater Accessibility and Transparency

City Hall Hansard: Transcribing City Council Discussions for greater Accessibility and Transparency - by Councillor Brad Bradford, seconded by Councillor Paul Ainslie

City Council Decision

City Council on April 16 and 17, 2019, adopted the following: 1. City Council request the City Clerk to report to the Special Committee on Governance, for consideration as part of the Committee's work plan, on the feasibility of implementing accurate time effective transcription of meetings of City Council and the various committees, boards, agencies and special committees and such report to include:   a. a review of the transcription services used in other jurisdictions, including the Provincial and Federal Governments;   b. the cost of implementing such transcription services;   c. a scan of technologies that could perform accurate time effective transcription services; and   d. an analysis of the equity impact of transcription services.

Background Information (City Council)

Member Motion MM6.15  (http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2019/mm/bgrd/backgroundfile-131844.pdf)

Motions (City Council)

Motion to Waive Referral (Carried) Speaker Frances Nunziata advised Council that the provisions of Chapter 27, Council Procedures, require that Motion MM6.15 be referred to the Special Committee on Governance. A two-thirds vote of the Council Members present is required to waive referral. Vote (Waive Referral) Apr-17-2019 2:14 PM Result: Carried Two-Thirds Required - MM6.15 - Waive referral Yes: 21 Paul Ainslie, Ana Bailão, Brad Bradford, Shelley Carroll, Mike Colle, Gary Crawford, Joe Cressy, John Filion, Paula Fletcher, Mark Grimes, Cynthia Lai, Mike Layton, Josh Matlow, Jennifer McKelvie, Frances Nunziata (Chair), James Pasternak, Gord Perks, Anthony Perruzza, Jaye Robinson, Michael Thompson, Kristyn Wong-Tam  No: 3 Stephen Holyday, Jim Karygiannis, Denzil Minnan-Wong  Absent: 2 Michael Ford, John Tory  Motion to Adopt Item (Carried) Vote (Adopt Item) Apr-17-2019 4:18 PM Result: Carried Majority Required - MM6.15 - Adopt the item Yes: 12 Ana Bailão, Brad Bradford, Shelley Carroll, Gary Crawford, Cynthia Lai, Mike Layton, Josh Matlow, Jennifer McKelvie, Gord Perks, Anthony Perruzza, John Tory, Kristyn Wong-Tam  No: 8 Mike Colle, John Filion, Stephen Holyday, Jim Karygiannis, Denzil Minnan-Wong, Frances Nunziata (Chair), James Pasternak, Jaye Robinson  Absent: 6 Paul Ainslie, Joe Cressy, Paula Fletcher, Michael Ford, Mark Grimes, Michael Thompson  Point of Privilege by Councillor Shelley Carroll Councillor Carroll, rising on a Point of Privilege, stated that she did not appreciate being admonished by the Speaker for laughing and that the Member who made the joke should be admonished.