The newly-elected city council has four years ahead with three new members and a second term mayor.
Yours Truly has some suggestions for the deliberations; suggestions based on 54 years of covering council for a newspaper, mentoring others, or close observations, of experience with at least seven city managers. There were times when I spent almost as much time at city hall as some lazy councillors did.
You are representing the public, not your own interests or biases. Try and ensure that business is done in public and not behind closed doors. That is not always comfortable when discussing thorny issues. Voters deserve to know what’s going on.
Encourage public participation and feedback. To this end, consider re-building the economic development committee and the municipal planning commission to engage voters in commenting on and recommending policy.
City administration convinced the previous council to abandon these two bodies in what was a consolidation of power by city managers.
One suggestion, if the economic development committee is revived, instead of the previous composition of a cross-section of the community, stock the committee with people showing real interest in development.
Administration told council the existence of this committee made keeping potential investment projects secret. In other words, give managers all the power.
We saw how that worked when the city manager wasted 18 months secretly working with a developer on a housing project in Wakamow — not to mention how much money the developer wasted. Had the project been mentioned to council or an economic development committee no time would have been wasted as the contentious nature became clear.
Pretty well everybody running for council promises to attract more development and to eliminate waste.
Learn that city councils have limited scope to attract development. Realize that councils for the last 55 years have been cutting waste/fat. The cuts are approaching the bone.
Be skeptical of your administration and managers. Question their information.
They have their own agendas, whether it be getting their job done as easily as possible or putting their own stamp (bias) on city operations.
As administrators, the tendency is to avoid controversy or sweep it under the rug.
Be wary of administrators who have had many previous short term jobs. For they may be career hoppers, building a resume for a future dream position. They are more interested in looking good than in the city’s long term interests.
Be wary of administrators who have held the position for a long time. They tend towards taking less risk and making their job easier, such as holding half as many council meetings.
Some administrators are manipulative. Some try and tell council what to do instead of providing options.
Don’t depend too much on long time council members for advice. In my experience long term councillors tend to become part of the woodwork and slavishly follow administration’s ideas.
Be aware that being a councillor is more than attending a meeting every two weeks. If you do it right this will be like another full-time job. Earn your salary and that big increase
Good luck and, as they say in show business, break a leg.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
