Cambridge City Hall to fully reopen after police investigation concludes

Cambridge City Council will once again open its doors to members of the public after a security scare in September. CTV’s Krista Simpson has more.

Full public access to Cambridge City Hall and council chambers will resume on Tuesday after police wrapped up an investigation into a series of disruptive incidents.

“The ongoing incidents included threating remarks, inappropriate conduct on city property, aggressively pursuing contact with staff and council and gaining access to restricted areas of city buildings more than once,” the city said in a media release on Tuesday. “The safety of staff, mayor, council and members of the public are always our top priority.”

Last month, the city announced a scheduled city council meeting was being moved online following an incident with a disruptive member of the public.

The Waterloo Regional Police Service later confirmed to CTV News that incident involved a threatening voicemail. Police said the person who made the call never appeared at any city facilities and there were no grounds for criminal charges.

The city continued to host modified meetings for weeks. City councillors were welcomed around the horseshoe while members of the public attended virtually or by phone.

During a council meeting on Tuesday, acting city manager Yogesh Shah said the mayor and councillors did not make the decision to implement to additional safety measures.

“I would like to reiterate that the mayor and councillors were not involved in making any decisions about the security measures at city hall,” Shah said. “It’s a staff responsibility under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.”

Although the investigation has concluded, the city will maintain enhanced security protocols, including bag checks at council meetings, controlled access throughout city hall and on-site security personnel. Staff will also receive additional training and emergency preparedness sessions.

“Municipalities have to make sure their employees feel safe to come to work,” Eric Davis, a municipal and planning law lawyer at SV Law, told CTV News. “That municipal work can still get done, even in the face of those threats. But at the same time, try to do what it can to make things as accessible as possible.”

The closure of Cambridge City Hall, however, was unusual.

“In my experience, I’ve not seen it before, at least for this extended period of time,” Davis said. “Now, granted, I don’t know the nature of the threats being made to the city, so perhaps they viewed this as all necessary measures. Given the nature and scope of the threats, I can say that in acting for municipalities across the province, there does seem to be a rising tide of people not very pleased with any level of government.”

In the past, Davis saw for himself the unrest experienced by municipal councillors and city staff.

“I, myself, was actually a few years ago in a lockdown at Cambridge City Hall when there was a person who was viewed as a security threat and Waterloo Regional Police came in, I believe the SWAT team came in and started clearing all the rooms and those sorts of things,” he recalled. “Municipalities do have security concerns and very legitimate security concerns. So it’s just a question of where do you find the appropriate balance.”

Tuesday’s council meeting will take place in person, and meetings will continue to be held in person going forward. Reports previously removed from the agenda will return at a future date.