COBDEN — Steve Seller, a ministry advisor for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, provided a briefing to council on the role of council, councillor and staff, using a slide presentation, at its March 23 council meeting.
He has been the Renfrew County advisor for the past nine years. He said the ministry guides what municipalities may do, but does not give legal advice or interprets the legislation.
He said there is an excellent guide, The Municipal Councillor’s Guide 2014, to help guide council members through its term of office.
This presentation on council and staff was requested by Mayor Hal Johnson, who could not attend this portion of the meeting due to a personal reason.
There are seven roles of council, including developing and evaluating the policies and programs of the municipality; maintain the financial integrity of the municipality; ensure administrative policies, practices and procedures and controllership policies, practices and procedures are in place to implement the decisions of council, he explained.
The role of the head of council has six guidelines, including acting as the chief executive officer; providing leadership to council; represent the municipality at official functions and carry out the duties of the head of council under this or any other act, he noted.
There are three roles for the councillor, Mr. Seller said. There is the representative role, policy-making role and stewardship role.
The representative role includes making decisions in the best interests of the municipality as a whole and having a broad understanding of issues, he said.
The policies created by council provides direction for municipal operations by establishing general principles to help guide actions, he said.
Under stewardship, council must ensure financial and administrative resources are used efficiently, he said.
There must be accountability and transparency, he added.
The role of staff is to implement council’s decisions and establish administrative practices and procedures to carry out those decisions; undertake research and provide advice to council on the policies and programs of the municipality and to carry out other duties required under this or any Act and other duties assigned by the municipality, Mr. Seller said.
He also stressed the importance of staff succession planning.
“This is not mandated but it’s very important to a municipality,” he said.
This could include identifying key staff positions, who is retiring in five years, who would be great to step in and begin training for them, he said.
Mr. Seller noted the Chief Building Officer and treasurers positions are the hardest positions for a municipality to fulfill.
He also spoke about council and local board meetings; the procedure bylaw; the record-keeping during meetings; the difference between open and closed meetings and what happens if there is a closed meeting investigation; what the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act is, the Codes of Conduct, and bylaws and resolutions.
Department Reports
Environmental Services: Steve Hodson, Environmental Services Manager, will be undertaking Manager of Landfill Operations re-certification in April. An online training session was attended for completing the annual Waste Diversion Ontario Datacall for Blue Box Funding.
Chief Administrative Officer: Christine FitzSimons asked for and received consensus from council to focus on three core corporate competencies to be used for non-union staff performance appraisals. She received permission to focus on client service orientation; focus on results; and professionalism, which were all explained during a presentation by Bruce Beakley, which she attended. Mr. Beakley is Renfrew County’s manager of Human Resources.
She provided a list and explanation of 22 competencies from which she picked the three.
Councillor Charlene Jackson asked that council be provided a copy of the form CAO FitzSimons will use and she agreed to provide it.
It was noted CAO FitzSimons will work with the department managers regarding these competencies, because they are involved with the staff as well.
Public Works: Terry O’Malley started his mechanic position with the municipality on February 22; crews sanded and plowed 19 times in February 2016 compared to 22 times in 2015; crews removed snow twice from the villages within Whitewater Region; gravel was added to some portions of Fletcher Road; brushing on Grants Settlement Road continues in preparation of construction work this summer; signs that failed the reflectivity test continue to be replaced; and the garage doors were replaced at Mineview Patrol garage.
Reeve: In February, Reeve Terry Millar attended three meetings at the county office; he noted the Development and Property Committee will be updated on the CP rail corridor following a meeting with the CP Rail Corridor Advisory Committee and the partners to review the acquisition documents with legal counsel.
Fire Department: Cobden responded to a gas smell and a snowmobile fire; Beachburg responded to a tractor fire and Beachburg and Westmeath responded to a car fire on the Gore Line.
