The veil of secrecy covering City Hall was partially lifted yesterday — but only six people bothered to take a peek at what was underneath.

The Corporation of Hamilton held what is believed to be the first open board meeting in its 214-year history, giving taxpayers an historic opportunity to witness how it conducts its business, spends public funds and makes decisions about the city.

But the welcome move towards a more transparent and accountable municipality — as pushed for by The Royal Gazette's A Right To Know: Giving People Power campaign — appeared not to have captured the imagination of the wider public.

Of the six people who showed up for yesterday's 12.30 p.m. meeting, two were journalists and at least two were former Corporation members. By 1.45 p.m, only one journalist and one former councillor remained in the area set aside for the public in the Mayor's Parlour.

And while Mayor Charles Gosling declared at the start of the session that the doors of City Hall were now open, it was clear to those few attending that they could be opened wider still.

Although an agenda was provided for spectators (like in Parliament, those in the public gallery are not allowed to participate), much of the meeting centred on discussion about the minutes of previous meetings — and they remain confidential documents.

A request from this newspaper during the meeting for the minutes was turned down by a Corporation spokeswoman, who told us afterwards: "The board meeting minutes, financial report and committee minutes are not available to the public."

The lack of minutes — detailing the activities and decisions of the municipality's development; government; property; infrastructure; staff, legislative and governance; and finance committees — meant it was difficult to entirely understand parts of the dialogue between Corporation members, as they constantly referred to documentation we were not allowed to see.

It was also tough to hear some of the meeting, as the microphone only pointed in the direction of Mr. Gosling.

The Corporation spokeswoman promised afterwards: "We will look at how we can improve the sound in the room by the next meeting."

Still, the first step towards anything is always said to the hardest — and yesterday Mr. Gosling seemed genuinely committed to bringing about a sea change at City Hall.

He has spoken several times on the need for transparency before and since his July election win and even joked with his three aldermen and five councillors about the topic yesterday.

"I think a number of you have felt you'd rather have a root canal than have one of these meetings," he said. "For the sake of science, I have had both today and I can tell you I'd rather have the open meeting."

He added, more seriously, that the Corporation could prove its commitment to openness by keeping the momentum alive and voting in favour of board meetings being held in public in the future.

The members unanimously backed a motion proposing that by Alderman Pamela Ferreira and seconded by Deputy Mayor Glen Smith.

As the doors began to close for the restricted part of the session (dealing with staffing and other confidential matters), the Mayor thanked his team. "See, it wasn't that bad," he said.

• The next board meeting of the Corporation of Hamilton is at 9 a.m. on Thursday, December 3. The public can attend.