I was first elected to Town Council in 2000. As a new member of Council, I received an "orientation." They called it an "orientation" anyway.
The orientation consisted of the following: we were led on a tour of the water purification plant, of the sewage control plant, and we were given a copy of the Procedural By-law (such as it existed 18 years ago). We did not review the Procedural By-law or practice with it. They just gave us a copy.
As I look back today, I can say that the most useful part of the orientation was receiving a copy of the Procedural By-law. I read it and put it to work right away. Others might say that touring the pollution control plant was more representative of what an elected official might need to deal with.
The new Town Council will be sworn in tonight, Monday December 3, 2018. They may get some type of orientation, sooner or later. It might be useful for them to know, and for us to remind them, of what their duties are. Here are Council's duties under the Municipal Act, section 224:
1. "To represent the public and to consider the well-being and interests of the municipality." To represent the public you must show up. Be at the meetings. Read your agenda. Maybe talk to an accountant to help you understand the budget. Representing the public means representing all the public. Not just your friends. It means representing the whole town, not just downtown. You must represent the taxpayers in River Canard, and Amherst Point, and Malden Centre, and Edgewater, and Boblo Island. You must represent the rich and the poor and everyone in between.
2. "To develop and evaluate the policies and programs of the municipality." That's right, you do this. You don't sit and wait for someone else to tell you what the policies should be. You make the policies. There are policies that need to be changed. Change them. There are policies that need to be scrapped. Scrap them. There are policies that need to be invented. Invent them.
3. "To determine which services the municipality provides." And of course, to determine which services the municipality does not provide. I live in a town where people decided to spend a lot of money throwing festivals, and then decided they didn't want to run a police department anymore. That's kind of like being a parent and deciding you want to throw your kids' birthday parties but you don't want to take them to the dentist. It's your call.
4. "To ensure that administrative policies, practices and procedures and controllership policies, practices and procedures are in place to implement the decisions of council." Did you get that last part? It says: "To implement the decisions of council." This is not a love fest. You are the boss. That means when Council makes a decision, you have to make sure it gets implemented and not put off for 3 years. And if your decision is not implemented, it's your job to hold people responsible.
5. "To ensure the accountability and transparency of the operations of the municipality, including the activities of the senior management of the municipality." Now there's a tug-of-war if I ever saw one. The "senior management" of the municipality is supposed to be "accountable" and "transparent." To who? To you and the taxpayers, that's who. And it's your job to make it so. Do you have the backbone for this?
6. "To maintain the financial integrity of the municipality." The words "financial integrity" could be interpreted many ways. If we are reasonable, I think we could agree that bills owed to the municipality should get paid, and when they are not paid, Council gets a full public accounting of why. That would be included in my definition of "financial integrity."
So there you have it. Those are Council's responsibilities as outlined in the Municipal Act. There will be a lot of smiles and photo-ops tonight at the swearing-in ceremony. But municipal governance is not a ceremonious office. It is actually a serious responsibility. You got a job to do. Go do it.
The orientation consisted of the following: we were led on a tour of the water purification plant, of the sewage control plant, and we were given a copy of the Procedural By-law (such as it existed 18 years ago). We did not review the Procedural By-law or practice with it. They just gave us a copy.
As I look back today, I can say that the most useful part of the orientation was receiving a copy of the Procedural By-law. I read it and put it to work right away. Others might say that touring the pollution control plant was more representative of what an elected official might need to deal with.
The new Town Council will be sworn in tonight, Monday December 3, 2018. They may get some type of orientation, sooner or later. It might be useful for them to know, and for us to remind them, of what their duties are. Here are Council's duties under the Municipal Act, section 224:
1. "To represent the public and to consider the well-being and interests of the municipality." To represent the public you must show up. Be at the meetings. Read your agenda. Maybe talk to an accountant to help you understand the budget. Representing the public means representing all the public. Not just your friends. It means representing the whole town, not just downtown. You must represent the taxpayers in River Canard, and Amherst Point, and Malden Centre, and Edgewater, and Boblo Island. You must represent the rich and the poor and everyone in between.
2. "To develop and evaluate the policies and programs of the municipality." That's right, you do this. You don't sit and wait for someone else to tell you what the policies should be. You make the policies. There are policies that need to be changed. Change them. There are policies that need to be scrapped. Scrap them. There are policies that need to be invented. Invent them.
3. "To determine which services the municipality provides." And of course, to determine which services the municipality does not provide. I live in a town where people decided to spend a lot of money throwing festivals, and then decided they didn't want to run a police department anymore. That's kind of like being a parent and deciding you want to throw your kids' birthday parties but you don't want to take them to the dentist. It's your call.
4. "To ensure that administrative policies, practices and procedures and controllership policies, practices and procedures are in place to implement the decisions of council." Did you get that last part? It says: "To implement the decisions of council." This is not a love fest. You are the boss. That means when Council makes a decision, you have to make sure it gets implemented and not put off for 3 years. And if your decision is not implemented, it's your job to hold people responsible.
5. "To ensure the accountability and transparency of the operations of the municipality, including the activities of the senior management of the municipality." Now there's a tug-of-war if I ever saw one. The "senior management" of the municipality is supposed to be "accountable" and "transparent." To who? To you and the taxpayers, that's who. And it's your job to make it so. Do you have the backbone for this?
6. "To maintain the financial integrity of the municipality." The words "financial integrity" could be interpreted many ways. If we are reasonable, I think we could agree that bills owed to the municipality should get paid, and when they are not paid, Council gets a full public accounting of why. That would be included in my definition of "financial integrity."
So there you have it. Those are Council's responsibilities as outlined in the Municipal Act. There will be a lot of smiles and photo-ops tonight at the swearing-in ceremony. But municipal governance is not a ceremonious office. It is actually a serious responsibility. You got a job to do. Go do it.