London councillors on cellphones during public meetings. Is it a bad thing?

It was a bit of a "gotcha" moment captured on video toward the end of a seven-hour public participation meeting at London City Hall. 

With most of the 75 speakers on hand to question a $672-budget allocation to the London Police Service, Londoner Kade Pitcher shot a video from the public gallery showing three members of council on their cellphones during the Feb. 27 meeting. 

The video showed councillors Hadleigh McAllister, Peter Cuddy and Sam Trosow on their devices as a speaker questioned the crime stats used to justify the historic boost to the police budget. 

"Me and my friends noticed that these people were not paying attention," said Pitcher. "They were not listening to us, they were just on their phones. That was what made me want to start recording."

Pitcher is part of a collective of Londoners who feel most councillors had made up their mind about the police funding before the meeting. The meeting was held to give Londoners an opportunity to share their views on how the city will spend their tax dollars for the next four years.

"There's a time and place when you should not be on your phone because it's frankly disrespectful," he said. 

However, city councillors who spoke to CBC News said the issue is more nuanced and that the video is not proof they were shirking their responsibility to listen. 

CBC News reached out to every member of council and spoke to eight in total about the video. 

Councillors justify phone use

All who responded said are are often good reasons they're on their phones in council chambers, which is not against any rules governing council procedure. 

Coun. Elizabeth Peloza admits she's occasionally on her phone but uses it mostly for reasons related to running the meeting which is part of her role as budget chair.

These include everything from answering text messages from people on the speakers list wondering when their slot is coming up, to using the phone's timer function to ensure speakers don't exceed the five-minute limit. 

"As chair, I have a lot going on, I'm coordinating with security, IT, the city clerk, and other councillors," she said. 

Peloza also said she was staying in touch with home over the course of a meeting that started at 4 p.m. and didn't wrap up until almost 11 p.m.

"We're still balancing child care, elder care and other family needs," said Peloza. "My kids were asking 'When's dinner?'"

There was only one 20-minute break over the course of the meeting, which Peloza said was done to try and give everyone a chance to speak while also allowing the meeting to conclude at a reasonable hour when transit is still running. 

"We could take more breaks to stay focused but that makes it hard to schedule everyone in," she said. 

Because of the interest over the police allocation, this year's public participation meeting had 75 speakers, far more participants than four years ago (London uses a four-year budget cycle). A committee room separate from council chambers was used for overflow because the public gallery was at capacity. Participants in that room were allowed to speak and follow the discussion via video chat. 

Cuddy was one of the councillors who appeared in the video using his phone during the meeting. He's unapologetic about his phone use and said about 50 per cent of his phone time was spent answering constituents' questions. He was also using it to stay in touch with a family member about a plan to get together the following morning. 

Some speakers got too personal, Cuddy says

Also, Cuddy said some of the people who spoke at the meeting crossed a line with their comments.

"A lot of those speakers were challenging the integrity of me and my council colleagues and that's unfair and unreasonable and I'm not going to listen to that if they do," he said.

Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis left about halfway through the meeting to attend a meeting in his ward. He said many of the comments at the public participation meeting were repetitive and echoed the speakers' written submissions, which he said he read when they were added to the agenda.  

Lewis also said he uses his tablet to take notes and correspond with people during council meetings, but said he's still able to follow what's going on. 

"I can multitask," said Lewis. "I can be on my tablet and keep my ear cocked to what's being said."

Lewis said some of his tablet time during meetings is responding to questions from reporters. CBC News has texted councillors during meetings to clarify details about what's being discussed and to set up interviews after the meeting concludes.  

Regardless of the debate surrounding phone use, Coun. Anna Hopkins said she was happy to see so many Londoners show up at city hall, in person, to express their concerns. 

Hopkins admits she's had her phone out at times during meetings, but said she tries to remain focused and avoid the distraction of electronic devices. She points out that at public participation meetings, councillors don't have to focus on votes, information from city staff or debating motions. Their entire role is to listen. 

"What's important to me is that when the public shows up, I should show up too and listen," she said. "It's an important way of communicating."