What Role Do Councillors Play

Twenty-five years ago you might have gone to your local Councillor and said hey there are some pot holes on my road, the Councillor would speak to the road superintendent and your road got fixed.  Today your Councillor would have committed an ethics violation.  

Today a Councillor can:

- listen to public concerns on local issues and represent the concerns at council meetings.

- explain to residents how they can make a service request or complaint.  

- vote on municipal by-laws, policies and municipal standards

- participate in budget deliberations and vote on the budget (only the mayor and 2 Councillors are required to pass a budget in CKL)

- serve on committees to review special topics such as planning

- work with the Mayor and municipal staff to lobby provincial and federal governments for funding

A Councillor cannot:

- individually direct municipal staff

- cannot interfere in any matter being investigated by staff (e.g. asking the planning staff to speed up someone's building permit would be an ethics violation)

Council as a Whole can;

- by majority vote in favour of a formal resolution or by-law direct staff to take some action, but the direction is required to go through the Chief Administrative Officer.

- Councillors as a Whole are bound by Provincial laws regarding planning, environmental standards and policing.

What Does This Imply:

- to be effective a Councillor has to have facts to support their position, understand how the municipal processes work and be able to convince a majority of other Councillors to support their positions.