THE INNER WORKINGS: HOW A SMALL MUNICIPALITY WORKS

This blog post is part of my series, Civic Citizens Series on Governance. It aims to help Grey Highlands residents learn how local government works.This blog series includes the following posts:

This blog series includes the following posts:

• The Procedural By-Law: How Robert Rules Us

• Rolling Along: The Role of Council verses Staff

• Keeping Meetings Organized: The Council Meeting Agenda

• The Inner Workings: How a Small Municipality Works

• What Happened Here? The Minutes

• Our Foundation: The Documents that Guide Us

• Consequences: The Dark Side of Quorum

This blog post The Inner Workings: How a Small Municipality Works discusses the local government process from staff Report to Resolution. It includes several blog posts:

• Getting it Perfect: The Draft Council Agenda

• Going Public: The Public Council Agenda

• At The Council Table: The Council Meeting

• Your Feedback: Public Consultation

• Therefore, be it Resolved: A Resolution

• Confirming your Choice: The By-Law

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Local Government 101

The following example is a completely over-simplified version used to illustrate one the process from Report to Resolution. Hopefully, through this example you will get a better understanding of the process, as well as how it can deviate depending on the issue.

In general, Grey Highlands Council meets twice per month, and each meeting has an Agenda with several items. Most (like, all most all) Agenda items are associated with at least one staff Report. The Agenda usually includes an example Resolution to help with meeting efficiency and flow. (Thank you , Clerk!)

DID YOU KNOW? There are times when staff do not want to suggest a resolution (usually because the issue is politically charged).

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The Players

The following players (who is involved) are used in this example:

• Staff: This usually refers to Senior Management, but it can be any municipal staff member.

• Council: Grey Highlands Council includes 1 Mayor, 1 Deputy Mayor and 5 Councillors

• The Public: That's you (and the rest of the municipality)!

DID YOU KNOW? A Report can also be authoured by a field expert, for example, an engineer or a lawyer.

The diagram below follows a very, over-simplified example of a Report to Resolution.

From Staff Report to Resolution

In the next post, Getting it Perfect: The Draft Council Agenda, I explore the Draft Council Agenda.

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DISCLAIMER The staff at The Municipality of Grey Highlands are experts in their respective fields. If something here is different than staff's advice, always follow staff's direction. And, then please email me at danivaliquette@gmail.com with what I got wrong. 

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