NEWS RELEASE
CITY OF ELLIOT LAKE
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Councillors are asked to make decisions on issues that are sometimes complicated and controversial. Many of those decisions have long-term consequences for our community that extend beyond their four-year term. Throughout their time as councillors, they have a responsibility to act as representatives, policy-makers, and stewards of the community.
The main set of laws that gives local governments their powers is found in The Municipal Act, 2001. These laws define the need for flexible local government, accountability and transparency in municipal operations.
Starting this month, Elliot Lake’s incoming council is beginning the process of learning to balance of supporting the municipality and its operations while representing the public well-being and interest within the guidelines of the Municipal Act.
This process is outlined in The Municipal Act itself and requires that the councillors learn about the laws that apply to the decisions they make, the procedural bylaw that they have to follow while making these decisions, as well as the long-term initiatives, responsibilities and organizational processes of the City. In order to do their jobs effectively, each councillor has to develop a broader understanding of the issues that affect the City as a whole. This difficult task is supported by city staff and requires a considerable amount of learning for most.
On Nov. 21, 2022, the councillors elected for the next term will be sworn in at City Hall. The first scheduled meeting where new council has the opportunity to make municipal decisions on your behalf is to be held on Nov. 28, 2022.
How your new council represents your interests
Municipal governments in Ontario operate as representative democracies, where the councillors that you elect speak in council chambers for not only your interests but the interests of all of the constituents of Elliot Lake. City councillors have the challenging job of deciding what decisions will balance the needs of all of the people that live in Elliot Lake.
How can you work with your new council?
The most visible place that people can see this process play out is in council chambers at scheduled meetings, but much more community time and effort is spent elsewhere in the City’s decision-making process. Often, the most effective way to work with Council and the City is to engage it at the committee level.
How are decisions made at City Hall?
Issues, opinions, and opportunities are brought forward from the community. This input takes the form of proposals from city council, reports from city staff, or reports from official advisory bodies of city council and is forwarded to the standing committees of council.
Council’s standing committees review this input and either request that it be given more consideration, request that it be presented again to the standing committees with additional information, or recommend that it be passed along for consideration at council.
This is the primary and preferred way that something comes to council for consideration, as it provides a significant amount of opportunity for input from the community.
Council can also review urgent business brought forward either from members of city council or city staff that has not gone through the standing committees. Council can also request additional information from staff or committees before committing to a decision on an issue.
If council feels that it has enough information to make a good decision on a given matter, they vote to pass a resolution that confirms this decision.
Once council has approved a given matter, city staff works to put it into action.
All of this process is done according to the procedural bylaw that the city has put in place to comply with the Ontario Municipal Act. This bylaw defines how these issues are to be presented to the committees or council, what amount of notice the public needs to be given for addressing these issues, and the procedures that the committees and council use to have discussions.
Working together
While your participation in the process detailed above is important, it is only part of the story: Council and staff work together towards the common goal of serving the needs of the people that live in Elliot Lake.
Council provides stewardship, guidance and vision for the municipality and staff is responsible for the management of day-to-day activities. It is part of Council’s role to monitor how approved policies and programs are realized, but the practical aspects of their implementation and administration are the responsibility of staff.
As they finish their term in office, city staff would like to express their appreciation and to recognize the dedication and hard work of the councillors that have committed themselves to the service of this community for the past four years.
City staff welcomes the group of incoming councillors for the upcoming term and looks forward to working with them to support the community’s needs.
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