Learning curve for Council
Posted Oct 27, 2010 04:39:04 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The seven new faces on Kitchener council are about to get a crash course in municipal government.
A letter was mailed to each candidate in late September, asking them to keep some key dates open in the months ahead. Now that the votes have been tabulated, the seven new members of Kitchener council are about two weeks away from starting orientation.
General Manager of Corporate Services, Troy Speck, says it starts with a meeting in early November to go through traditional office procedures and human resources concerns such as pass codes and swipe cards.
From there, Speck tells 570 News it’s on to governance issues.
“Things like how to put a motion forward at a meeting, how does the voting process work, how to make a point of order,” Speck explains. “Because you’ll have some candidates who may not have had any experience at a board level or at a municipal level before.”
Speck admits it’s a balancing act to ensure new councillors get all of the information they need while not being overwhelmed in their first month on the job.
The entire orientation process will last into the spring of 2011 and provide background on such things as the city’s Strategic Plan, the community vision and its priorities, and “Budget 101.”
Speck says the new councillors will be introduced to offices like bylaw early on, since that’s where much of their early contact might be. At this time of year, for example, it’s not uncommon for a councillor to get a call from a constituent about leaf collection.
The learning curve this year will be especially steep considering there was only one new councillor (Kelly Galloway) joining the horseshoe in 2006.
New councillors for the upcoming term are:
Ward 1 — Scott Davey
Ward 4 — Yvonne Fernandes
Ward 6 — Paul Singh
Ward 7 — Bil Ioannidis
Ward 8 — Zyg Janecki
Ward 9 — Frank Etherington
Ward 10 — Dan Glenn-Graham
The new council will be officially sworn in on December 6th.
