Councillors go back to school this week

City councillors will be going to school this week, with two training sessions planned on key topics related to local government.

With 10 of 12 members of council serving their first terms, the sessions will focus on some of their key responsibilities. Today, members of the operations committee will learn the importance of ensuring residents have safe drinking water, a topic that has had particular scrutiny since the Walkerton tragedy in 2000.

In that case, lax oversight of the southern Ontario community's water supply led to contamination by E. coli bacteria, leading to seven deaths and more than 2,300 illnesses.

Since then, the care and control of drinking water in Ontario communities has been subject to much tighter regulations. Today, city councillors will take a three-hour course delivered by Larry Moore, a trainer on Ontario's drinking water policies.

Councillors will learn about their role in keeping drinking water safe, and about the threats to the system that could potentially affect the public.

Topics will include:
- Risk management and risk assessment.
- Challenges to providing safe water.
- Pathogenic organisms: the greatest tangible risk.
- Case studies of waterborne disease outbreaks.

On Tuesday, Mike Galloway, the chief administrative officer for the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, will lead the finance and administration committee through a workshop on governance training.

The focus will be defining staff and councillor roles, and developing productive relationships. It outlines some do's and don'ts when it comes to dealing with city staff, setting limits on what councillors can expect – and what they shouldn't.

“Councillors should not ask staff to perform personal services for them,” part of the presentation says. “Councillors should not attempt to influence staff behaviour by direct or indirect coercion of any kind, including intimidation, bullying, or alluding to future promotion or employment prospects.”

Politicians and staff also have a different outlook on government, the presentation says. For example, councillors tend to focus on what they can get done during their four-year term, while staff tend to look five or 10 years down the road.

While it's council's job to make decisions and set policy, it's staff's job to implement those decisions and policies, the training module says.

“Both elected officials and staff should understand and honour their respective roles and responsibilities, act only within them, and never blur the distinction.”

Other topics include how to handle a crisis, the importance of maintaining professionalism and strategies for developing effective relationships that strike a balance between getting things done and respecting everyone's roles in government.