New security measures have been put in place at the Chatham-Kent Civic Centre for everyone's safety.
"Unfortunately and regrettably, over the last little while we have had incidents of suspicious behaviour in the building, in and around council meetings," Chief Administrative Officer Michael Duben said at the beginning of Monday night's council meeting.
Duben noted that staff had been discussing the issue for a while and will be bringing a report to council in about six weeks. "Rather than wait until that report is ready, we thought we'd take some temporary steps for now," he said.
Those temporary steps include guards at the entrance of the building, and all visitors being given passes, so at any given time it's known who and how many people are in the building.
Duben added that the need for additional security hasn't just been an issue for Chatham-Kent. "There have been a number of municipalities that have had to deal with violent behaviour in council chambers," he explained.
Sarnia's City Council in particular has had issues in chambers, with their integrity commissioner being called on to look into outbursts during council meetings.
In February, CK councillors spoke about hate mail being left at their council seats.
During the February 5 meeting, Ward 6 Councillor Marjorie Crew read out a postcard left at her seat, which demanded that she resign from council.
"I won't resign. My skin's a little thicker than that," Crew responded to the author of the postcard.
A number of councillors echoed Crew's sentiments, adding that receiving hateful messages was something that was becoming more and more common.
The upcoming report about safety will include proposed policy changes and recommended changes to the physical spaces during meetings.
"This is about the safety of not just council but the safety of staff and the safety of visitors who come here to participate in the process," Duben said. "We have an obligation to keep people secure and safe."