With demands for municipal council transparency along with the expansion of rural Internet services, the public might expect council agendas to be posted on the Web in advance of meetings.

The issue surfaced recently when a resident at a meeting of 300 at Honeywood revealed that, of 56 respondents to an almost province-wide questionnaire on the topic, only Melancthon and Mulmur said they do not post council agendas.

However Shelburne was not among the respondents, and had the town responded, it would have revealed that at least three Dufferin municipalities do not post their agendas.

Dates of upcoming meetings for all three are, however, indicated on their websites. East Luther Grand Valley, one of the smallest of townships in the county, does post its agendas at least five days in advance of its meetings.

It wasn't immediately clear how many of the responding councils post their total agenda packages (reports, correspondence, and other backup materials) on their sites.

Dufferin County itself posts the entire packages of both committee and county council meetings.

At East Luther Grand Valley, Deputy Mayor John Ince said the township's postings had been required by a ruling.

But County Clerk Pam Hillock said the decision to post or not to post would depend on the council's procedural bylaw. She believed the posting of dates would fulfill the provincial requirements.

Ms. Hillock said not all municipalities have the means of posting their full agendas. In the cases of the county and of Orangeville, there are dedicated Information Technology persons. Small municipalities don't always have that luxury, she suggested.

But is it time for all municipalities to catch up with the new technology, given that most Canadians should soon have access to high speed Internet services?