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Writer's pictureIan McCormack

Re-Orientation: Benefits of Council Orientations for Returning Elected Officials

The turnover in local elected officials at election time is high, and that number looks to be trending further upwards for a variety of reasons. In the most recent BC municipal election, approximately 40% of the faces of the people in council seats changed. While this number is large, that still means that about 60% of the people sitting around the table as the ‘new’ council were also members of the previous council.


Across Canada, it is rare that provincial legislation mandates that councillors must be offered, or must attend, formal council orientations shortly after taking office. That these orientations aren’t required in most provinces and territories is the topic of a whole other blog post. There is undoubtable benefit to all members of the new council attending and learning from being together and hearing local administrators and even external experts talk about the role of council and what they will likely face as governors over the next four years.


While the rookie council members are learning things for the first time, there is a real benefit to returning councillors as well. For someone who is interested in the pursuit of good governance, professional development never ends.


First Team


Even one or two changes around the council table mean that the group is a new one. All groups, whether elected or not, will go through the stages of group formation – forming, storming, norming and performing. The goal is to build the council into a team that is focused on the best long-term outcomes for their community.


I call this group of elected officials the municipality’s ‘first team’ because they will know more about their municipality than anyone else will, including their spouses or partners. This group is privy to confidential information that they will use to make good decisions. If the group is not a team, it can be a very lonely existence. One small qualifier though; this team does not have to be friends, but they should ideally trust one another and believe in each other’s’ contributions to the whole.


The Firehose


If I get the chance to work with municipal council members part-way through their term, I often ask them whether the job is what they thought it would be. The almost universal answer is ‘no’. The job is more - more hours, more meetings, more events, more reading – that sort of thing.


Unlike other orders of government in Canada, there is no transition period between being a private citizen and being a council member. There is no time to ease into the role and learn the ropes. On day one, new elected officials are making decisions and learning from that metaphorical firehose. Second and subsequent term councillors will encounter topics on their orientations that they had either forgotten, or which had never made it into their long-term memory. This value is immeasurable for the returning councillor.


Rule Changes


Local governments are affected by policy changes at the federal and provincial/territorial orders of government. These changes can be subtle and focused, or they can be wide-ranging and significant. Often, the changes take effect at of the start of a new council term, so they are incorporated into the orientation process.


For new councillors, these rule changes are not particularly onerous because they never had to follow the old rules as an ordinary citizen. For the returning council member, the rule changes do constitute a need to do things differently. Since orientations are typically quite broad in their subject matter, the changes in legislation can be incorporated into a range of areas that they might affect.


One such change that affected all of Canada was the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. For new councillors after that occurred, the municipal government had already adapted, but for returning councillors, they needed to know what was going to be different because of the federal government’s decision.


Just Saying No


There are elected officials who, given the choice, will not attend orientations because they are sure they know the job and they don’t want administration to ‘brainwash’ them. They are there as the watchdog and don’t want to get distracted by fluffy things.


These councillors are the ones who would benefit most from the orientation process, whether as a wet-around-the-ears rookie, or as the five term grizzled veteran. This is one of those cases where those who would benefit most from the orientation are the ones least likely to attend if it’s voluntary, and the least likely to pay attention if it’s mandatory. This topic is also big enough for its own post.


Getting on with the Job


Having delivered literally dozens, if not hundreds, of orientations, mid-term governance refreshers, conference talks, and seminars on the topic of governance, it’s easy for me to see the benefit of collective learning for new and returning councillors alike. One of the best ways for this to work is through peer pressure where members of that First Team challenge each other to continue to learn, and that literally starts with the council orientation.


I’d be interested in your opinion of the benefit of mandatory council orientations in your province or territory. Does having mandatory orientations help on balance? Does not having mandatory orientations make things better?


As always, you can reach me at ian@strategicsteps.ca  

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