When Archie Katzman banged a gavel on the wooden table promptly at 10 a.m., it signalled to about 40 spectators the start of a new era for the Niagara Parks Commission.

The open era.

For the first time in its 124- year history, members of the public were allowed to watch commissioners in action. It was standing room only in a committee room at Oak Hall, prompting Katzman, the acting chairman who has been on the commission since 1971, to comment on how many people were interested enough to attend the first meeting.

"We did not expect to see this many people," said Katzman, who has filled in as chairman since Jim Williams resigned in December.

Commissioners are "encouraged" by the interest in the goings-on at the commission, which is responsible for preserving, promoting and enhancing the area around Horseshoe Falls and the land along the Niagara River, he added.

To accommodate the crowd, the meeting was moved from the boardroom at the Portage Road office to a larger committee room. Staff put out wooden folding chairs -the kind that are comfortable for about an hour - as a visitors gallery.

Seats started filling up at 9:30, about 30 minutes before the session began.

"This is history," whispered Fort Erie resident Cathy Dennahower, as she settled in for the 90-minute meeting.

As commissioners arrived, they took their places around the table, a white cardboard name tag in front of each chair. A glass of water with a lemon slice had been placed on each spot at the table. Members thumbed through reports while they awaited Katzman's arrival.

"We're missing an opportunity. We could have charged for parking today," Vince Kerrio, a city councillor who represents council on the commission, quipped before the meeting began.

He set the stage for open meetings when he recommended them in December as a way of living up to a provincial government objective of being more transparent. Other commissioners backed the idea unanimously.

Friday was the first meeting since that decision.

Before the meeting, Katzman, a St. Catharines businessman, promised he would handle it like a city council meeting. Commissioners spent 90 minutes discussing issues like renewing the provincial approval the Niagara Parks Police needs to keep operating, increasing the commission's liability insurance, and how to comply with new provincial accessibility standards.

As mundane as those matters are, Niagara residents and the media have fought for years for the right to watch commissioners make those decisions.

Margaret Dunn, a spokeswoman for the Preserve Our Parks group, called it an "historic day." Having open meetings is one of the goals the citizens' watchdog group has advocated for years.

They're still looking for more changes in the way the parks commission runs, including the posting of members' phone numbers and email addresses on its website so the public can hold them accountable, term limits for commissioners and changes to the way the government selects them.

Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor, an advocate for more openness within the provincial government, congratulated them for taking the historic step.

"It's just time. It was time for the parks commission to open the door," he said.

As the area's provincial government representative, Craitor has fielded public concerns about the parks commission for years -including complaints about grass-cutting, employment issues and new attractions - because people didn't know where else to go. Holding open meetings is the start of making government-appointed commissioners accountable for the decisions they make.

"Now you, as commissioners, are going to have an opportunity to hear everything that I hear," Craitor said.

Since it was created in 1885, NPC members have done their business in private, partly due to "a restrictive framework" of laws and regulations that made it difficult to divulge its business, general manager John Kernahan said.

But he added commissioners have the authority to pass their own bylaw allowing public meetings. Kernahan said his staff is fine-tuning that bylaw, but commissioners can go ahead with open meetings until then.

clarocque@nfreview.com

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What was on their agenda?

The first open meeting of the Niagara Parks Commission lasted 90 minutes. A bylaw to allow public meetings was first on the agenda. Later, commissioners considered other routine business, including:

* an update on the Maid of the Mist situation and how the commission will comply with a government order to invite bids from companies interested in running boat tours on the Niagara River.

* a report that predicted "serious problems" for the Niagara Parks Police unless it can secure an extension of provincial approval that allows the agency to have its own police force.

* a report on the Ontarians with Disabilities Act;.

* a report on recent NPC activities, including Christmas at McFarland House where revenue was up, and New Year's Eve in Queen Victoria park that drew one of the biggest crowds in the park but lost the commission money.