The newly elected Rothesay Council meets for the first time to do regular business on June 13th.

The superstitious associate 13 with bad luck.  There were 13 around the table before Christ’s betrayal after that Friday Last Supper and in mythology there were 13 guests (the 13th uninvited) at the banquet before the Norse god Baldur was slain. Alternatively, there are many who will point out 13′s association with ascension, resurrection, and enlightenment.

Perhaps it’s good that Rothesay Councillors are not gods as, superstition aside, voters are expecting transparency not treachery at Monday’s council meeting.

That transparency will best come from a full and open debate of the issues on Council’s agenda. The best way to ensure that a debate is effective and in the public interest is not to have it occur in advance of the public meeting and definitely not behind closed doors. Too often previous Councils made their decisions with little or no oversight and well beyond the threat of public reaction that can impose discipline on the most effervescent of decision-makers.

If on Monday night Council decides to begin its new mandate by slipping into the tired old practice of excluding the public from the first hour or so of their regular monthly meeting, then to protect their credibility, they should be open about why and whether or not this will continue to be the routine in spite of their election talk to the contrary.

Whether or not to raise the bar by keeping the closed sessions to an absolute minimum is clearly a decision that should be made by elected Councillors. It is also Council’s decision, not staff’s, whether to inform the public about what topics were discussed on the rare occasions when the public is excluded from council meetings.

If Council does go the secret route, then at the very least, they should provide the public with the specific Municipalities Act authority that requires them to go behind closed doors.

The law is quite specific about what topics require the public to be excluded. But there are also instances where Council has discretion in deciding whether or not to exclude  the public. How that discretion is used will indicate to observers whether or not openness was an election promise that anyone intends to keep.

We’ll will be watching to see who is in the driver’s seat on this, elected officials taking us in a new direction or unelected staff maintaining the status quo, a black hole that unnecessarily conceals information necessary for public accountability.

For the record, my money will be on staff to keep their grip on Rothesay’s information flow because knowledge is definitely power. But, I’ll be happy to be proven wrong on Monday the 13th.