Today's coverage of the behind the scenes goings on at the Corporation of Hamilton shines a none too flattering light on just how dysfunctional the Corporation has been in the last year or so.

In truth, no one comes out of these revelations very well, and most people will hope that things will improve with a large contingent of new elected officials on board. They could hardly get any worse.

Former Common Councillor Graeme Outerbridge deserves credit for making the documents public since at long last they give the public some idea of how bad things were.

The documents make a clear and compelling argument for the Corporation to make their meetings public. That's because one of the major arguments against public meetings is that they would encourage grandstanding by the members. But one would hope that members would not be foolish enough to repeat some of their private behaviour in public.

It is difficult not to have some sympathy for Mayor of Hamilton Sutherland Madeiros who appears to have been trying to move the Corporation forward despite opposition from a determined bloc of Corporation members and managers, some of whom felt he had been elected illegitimately.

Where he clearly went wrong was in apparently deciding that getting any agreement from the Corporation members was hopeless. He therefore made decisions alone, only to be pulled up short and forced to reverse them.

But that does not mean the decisions themselves were wrong; in two of the cases in which the Corporation reversed the Mayor, he seems to have been right in trying to reduce the Corporation's costs and in getting a report on the future of Hamilton completed.

Had relations between the Mayor and his Aldermen and Common Councillors been better, one would have thought that compromises could have been reached.

Instead, the documents reveal both sides were so entrenched that it is a miracle that anything ever got done at all.

With the recent election and the appointment, albeit temporarily, of a new Secretary, the Corporation has a chance to make a fresh start. This fresh start requires that the "old members" put their differences aside and work, not for the good of themselves or even the Corporation itself, but for the City of Hamilton.

A great deal of time has been lost that now needs to be made up, and all the members should now work to prove that they are worth their seats.

This whole episode is overshadowed by the possibility that government will either radically change the voting process of the Corporation, reduce its responsibilities and ability to raise and spend taxes, or do away with the Corporations of Hamilton and St. George's entirely.

If the Corporation members do believe they serve a useful role – and they would not run for election if they didn't – they need to show that the Corporation can be run efficiently and effectively for the benefit of the residents and users of Hamilton.

One matter that should be of the highest priority, and some work has been done on this already, is electoral reform. What is needed is a system that allows all adult residents – and not just the heads of households – the vote at the same time that building and business owners also have a say, since they pay a large segment of the taxes in the city.

A fairer election system and open government would go a long way to silencing the Corporation's critics.