The law governing the Corporation of Hamilton is badly in need of amendment, but changes to it may not bring about greater transparency, according to the common councillor heading a review of the legislation.

Kathryn Gibbons, chairwoman of the Corporation's legislative committee, which is considering whether the Municipalities Act 1923 needs updating, said it would be up to elected members to decide to make the 213-year-old body more open and accountable.

The Royal Gazette's A Right to Know: Giving People Power campaign is calling for organisations funded by taxpayers, such as the Corporation, to open up their meetings to the public.

Mrs. Gibbons, who was elected as a common councillor to the Corporation last June, said she favoured transparency and pledged that her committee would look at the issue.

But she explained that the practice of holding closed meetings was not a statutory requirement but a Corporation policy — and members would need to agree to change the policy.

Mayor Sutherland Madeiros has promised this newspaper he will put the topic on the agenda at a future meeting and canvass the views of his three aldermen and five common councillors.

Mrs. Gibbons said: "I think that meetings should be open but I think in order for that to happen we need to research a little bit the way the Corporation runs its committees and its meetings in order to protect, for example, the confidentiality of staff and things like that.

"Clearly we can't be talking about those issues at a Corporation meeting in public. I think members want to review the policy."

She added that the Corporation had been busy with various pressing issues recently — including the decision last month to allow City of Hamilton workers to be represented by Bermuda Industrial Union, the controversial resolution to evict Bermuda Society of Arts from City Hall to free up office space and the need to revamp the city's waterfront.

"There are a number of issues that need to be taken care of before we can open meetings to the public," she said.

"Having said that there are a number of things we could do before meetings are open to the public, before we ever get to that.

"There is nothing preventing us from posting every resolution that the Corporation passes on its website. That might be an interim step. We could do that next week if we didn't have anything else to consider."

Mr. Madeiros told this newspaper: "Perhaps we should be more open. We would have to restructure our meetings; some things that are discussed are not for public disclosure. I think one of the ways that we are probably going to look at doing it first is to look at getting more information out on our website."

He added: "Right now I consider it to be important but not quite as urgent as you might think it is. Frankly, I haven't given it a great deal of consideration because it's not been one of the things that's been on the front-burner. But it's something that we should put on the table to discuss. It's not a closed door."

The Government pledged in last week's Throne Speech to look at amending the Municipalities Act, which also governs the Corporation of St. George. The Corporation of Hamilton is conducting its own review with a view to proposing legislative changes.

Let us know your views on the Corporation of Hamilton and whether you think its meetings and those of other publicly funded bodies should be open. E-mail arighttoknow@royalgazette.bm