Just another day at Hamilton City Hall…

The Public Record was ordered to leave a public meeting of the Property Standards Committee today after the City Hall objected to the use of Twitter in the public gallery.

The City says the use of a "electronic device" by a member of the public to post to Twitter constitutes "broadcasting" and is forbidden under new rules. The rules are not publicly available on the City website.

These are the tweets the City Manager's Office says constitute "disruptive behaviour":

Happening now – Property Standards Tribunal hearing on current state of Gore Bldgs. Robert Miles testifying #YHMgov pic.twitter.com/LHCrAX3hrU — Joey Coleman (@JoeyColeman) March 6, 2017

At issue: City order for plywood installation and painting after a Nov 9/16 break-in of Gore Bldgs #YHMgov pic.twitter.com/dTLnD4qJOH — Joey Coleman (@JoeyColeman) March 6, 2017

Robert Miles is a public figure in Hamilton, a Realtor and manager for one of largest property owners in the downtown. The Gore Buildings are located along the main downtown strip of the City, and are of significant public interest.

Coverage of this public meeting is clearly in the public interest, and protected journalistic activity under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

New City Policy for Broadcasting at City Hall

Hamilton City Clerk Rose Caterini, who directly reports to City Manager Chris Murray, implemented new rules for various committees at City Hall to address Council concerns regarding "eavesdropping" during public meeting.

By "eavesdropping", the City is referring to the recording of public proceedings and posting of full videos of those proceedings.

The new rules state "broadcasting" is only allowed for "the purposes of education or news dissemination". The rules do not define "broadcasting" or what is "education or news dissemination".

Read the draft policy for this committee (PDF) – the final version is not publicly available . The City has now posted the policy on its website.

On February 25, 2015, City Council voted 13-2 to receive – and hence endorse – the Integrity Commissioner Earl Basse's report on the incident involving Councillor Lloyd Ferguson [PDF], in which Basse repeated a claim by Ferguson that TPR engaged in "eavesdropping". Since then, staff have engaged in a pattern of obstruction against TPR. On May 20, 2015, Council reportedly voted in camera to further sanction TPR for "RSS hacking" by linking to the City of Hamilton's RSS feed of public agendas in violation of the City's website terms of use that forbid linking to public documents without the written permission of Council.

City Councillors and the Mayor have taken to calling The Public Record a fake news site.

As I'm no longer media, City Council takes the position that my use of Twitter is "broadcasting" and not "education or news dissemination".

Here's the City's statement on the new rules from August 2016 (and yes, the City Manager actually issues official statements with that font):

Response to Property Standards Committee, Policy respecting the Broadcasting and Recording of Hearings @JoeyColeman pic.twitter.com/NyxSG2MuUT — City of Hamilton (@cityofhamilton) August 30, 2016

The City implemented the new rules shortly after the Ontario Ombudsman ruled a secret meeting of the Election Compliance Audit Committee to be illegal – after I caught the illegal meeting. (City Council is challenging Ombudsman oversight in court, the case will cost over $10,000, at a time of budget crisis, this is a spending priority for Council.)

It was also shortly after the Divisional Court ruled that The Public Record video of another Election Compliance Audit Committee could be entered as evidence in a court proceeding and may supercede Council's version of events in the minutes where they conflict.

Property Standards Committee

Property Standards Committee is an open meeting under the Municipal Act. The City takes the position that because the Property Standards Committee exists under both the Property Standards Act and Municipal Act, the City can ban non-media from recording/broadcasting these public meetings under the Property Standards Act. The City is not imposing any restrictions on City-approved media outlets, the ban only applies to members of the public.

Today's Property Standards Meeting

The Committee met today debate property standards bylaw orders for 1 St. James Place, and the Gore buildings.

The meeting was scheduled at the same time as a Council meeting on the City's proposed Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Policy.

I was in Council Chambers for the beginning of the Council meeting, and walked over to the public committee room for Property Standards around 10:25 a.m., to grab a copy of the agenda (the City does not post public committee agendas