Members of The Blue Mountains council have expressed concerns about a new proposal that would require all council members to direct their questions for staff to the town CAO and mayor instead of directly to staff.
CAO Shawn Everitt presented the proposal to council at its committee of the whole meeting on Jan. 10. The CAO worked with Mayor Andrea Matrosovs to develop a flow chart to illustrate a more formal process for members of council to submit questions to members of staff.
The proposed process would have members of council email their questions to the CAO/mayor (with all of council copied), the CAO and mayor would then decide the appropriate and next steps, the CAO would email the appropriate staff member for more information (with all of council copied), the staff member would reply to the CAO (all of council copied), follow up questions would be directed to the CAO/mayor and no debate/discussion would occur in order to avoid a question becoming a discussion via email that should take place during an open council meeting.
The proposal flow chart can be found in the CAO’s presentation online here.
“One of the key roles of the CAO is building, maintaining and fostering relationships between council, staff and the public,” said Everitt. “It is a significant priority.”
The recommended changes were received with mixed emotions around the council table with some suggesting it takes away from a councillor's independence.
Coun. Paula Hope, who stressed there was nothing personal in her comments or questions, asked why councillors had to include the mayor’s office when asking staff a question.
“Councillors are independent. They don’t answer to the mayor. Councillors have roles as individuals,” said Hope. “I don’t see why when councillors have a question, why a copy has to go to the mayor.”
In response, Matrosovs said the mayor is the CEO of the organization and she noted local conservation authorities had a similar process for communications between board members of staff.
“There is nothing here that precludes councillors from doing their job,” she said.
Everitt said he has polled his fellow CAOs on the matter of council-to-staff communications and he was surprised the systems in place in other jurisdictions range from “flexible” to “stringent.”
“This leans towards more of the stringent,” he said.
Everitt said he envisions a system that allows town staff to be more nimble in responses to questions from council. He said a more formal system would allow staff to immediately generate a report about an issue/question raised by a member of council.
“Sharing of those questions will ultimately provide an opportunity for sharing more information,” said Everitt. “If we can receive questions before, we can be informed.”
Coun. Gail Ardiel said the proposal was a significant change.
“This is a huge, from my prior experience, jump forward. It’s turning impersonal. We’re becoming very, very formal,” she said.
Coun. Alex Maxwell called the issue a “grey area.”
“Sharing information is a good idea, but we’re starting to bog down the system in a way with unintended consequences.”
Everitt said he wants to see a system where questions to staff from councillors flow through his office.
“I want to be comfortable that staff are well positioned and feel comfortable that if a question is posed to them from one member of council, that it comes through me,” he said. “This is not meant to stymie individual councillors from coming to talk to me.”
Everitt said, based on the early reactions from council, he already has some tweaks in mind for the proposed system and he said he would bring a report back with additional information for further discussion.
Matrosovs said the proposal would be a benefit to all members of council.
“It will save us a lot of time over the next four years. We are evolving as an organization, for sure,” she said. “This is not to take away independence. It’s to keep us all on the same page.”
Coun. Shawn McKinlay also expressed support for the proposal.
“I’m used to a similar structure,” he said. “We’re all on the same team. It’s crystal clear to me.”
Hope reiterated her concerns that the proposal was a significant shift in how council conducts business. Hope added that she did not object to flowing questions to staff through the CAO and added that elected councillors are responsible to the public.
“We are elected by residents. They are my ultimate boss. My responsibility is to them, not the mayor,” said Hope. “This is an extreme departure from the past.”
