Municipal Council 101

It was an extremely busy last quarter of 2022 as Nigel Bellchamber and Fred Dean delivered over 30 in person training sessions for newly elected Councillors and their staff . These sessions focussed primarily on roles and responsibilities of elected and appointed officials but covered many other aspects of local government. Their travels took them from Kenora to Kingston and numerous places in between.

The most effective sessions for participants, both from an access and a cost point of view, were when one or more municipalities hosted the session and invited neighbouring Council members and staff to attend.

For those councils that would still like to benefit from the Roles and Responsibilities/101 session, entitled the Effective  Municipal Councillor, we are prepared to present this session at your convenience. 

Effective Municipal Meetings

We also have a full day session that runs from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM including a lunch break entitled Effective Municipal Meetings. Since municipal councils can only conduct business at a meeting it's important that members understand the Municipal Act rules, other legislative processes, and standard parliamentary procedure found in most procedure bylaws, and how to make effective use of the tools at their disposal.

Staff and Council members, both new and experienced , have found this programme to be very helpful in making meetings run more smoothly and accomplish more. It includes numerous real-life examples and a highly interactive relationship between the trainers and participants.

CAO and Senior Staff Training

We are also exploring delivery of Amberley Gavel’s highly rated four-day training program for CAOs, aspiring CAOs and other senior staff. This program is delivered on a Tuesday evening to Friday noon schedule packing four days of training into three calendar days away from the office. The subject matter is geared towards the role of the CAO and what they must know about the various aspects of general administration to make them effective in their leadership and advisory capacities.

We anticipate delivering this in the Barrie/Orillia area this time in order to make it accessible to a wide group of attendees. Maximum attendance will be 24 persons.