ST. PAUL – Should councillors be able to directly contact town staff if they have concerns? Or is that an overstep of authority? Those are just two questions that came up during a more than two hours long discussion during the Town of St. Paul’s Committee of the Whole meeting on Nov. 14, as council reviewed the Council Code of Conduct.
During discussions, Coun. Brad Eamon said he believes there is a fine line councillors must tread when communicating with Town staff and directors, because councillors too will have the same valid concerns as regular citizens, and they will want to express that to staff.
When this happens, Eamon says he has reservations that a councillor’s concerns may be weighed more due to their status as an elected official, as opposed to a citizen who may have the same concern.
Coun. Nathan Taylor agreed, stating the question would be on how councillors could properly communicate their concerns to staff, believing that it would improper if a councillor’s words are taken with more urgency - even if they were suggesting something as a concerned citizen.
CAO Steven Jeffery said that as CAO, he and his directors have set specific priorities and goals for the various departments. If a councillor were to call a department head and suggest a new idea or approach, it could disrupt the work the department is already focused on to achieve. This could then create productivity issues in other departments as well, since they would no longer be able to concentrate on those set priorities, said Jeffery.
To avoid confusion, the discussion would fall under “Scenario Number 4” of the “Use of Municipal Assets and Services/Communication Protocol” included in the Council Code of Conduct, where inquiries related to citizen concerns are to be emailed to the CAO and relevant directors.
He suggested this will help preserve the productivity and focus of the municipal administration as a whole.
Influence
The discussion was also connected to how a councillor could influence or advance an issue or idea.
Part of the proposed revision of the Code of Conduct reads: “An individual member may not provide direction to Administration, or in any way advance or influence an issue or idea. Council may only provide formal direction to Administration through a council resolution.”
Taylor said he has concerns about this portion of the code, “because our job is to influence and advance ideas.”
Illustrating his point, Taylor said if a citizen is concerned about garbage collection and a councillor suggests a change to the garbage pickup locations – that is an operational matter within the purview of administration.
So, in this scenario, he believes councillors should be able to make suggestions to directors. However, Taylor also acknowledged that there is a distinction between providing a suggestion versus directing administration to take action, which would be a breach of the code of conduct.
Taylor sees making suggestions as being part of a councillor’s role in representing residents and providing input, without stepping into the administration's decision-making authority.
Aline Brousseau, Director of Planning & Legislative Services, said the statement also covers a scenario where a member of the administration cannot act solely based upon one councillor’s idea. It reinforces a rule where if there is a suggestion, it would have to go back to council for approval, she explained.
Taylor replied that he is worried that if he has any suggestions at all, a director of a department, for example, could just tell him, “Nathan, you’re not even allowed to make suggestions to me.”
“[Because] you’re influencing and advancing an idea,” said Taylor, which he believes defeats the point of a councillor’s role of being someone who should provide suggestions and ideas.
Jeffery said the proposed revision affects all his staff, not only the directors, and he is worried that if a councillor has the ability to direct suggestions to all staff, it could be detrimental to work that is being done.
Taylor said he agrees there should be something in the proposed revision defining the difference between a department director, which has a leadership role, and staff in other roles.
“I am also OK with that because, I agree, I should not come up to the guy mowing the lawn,” and tell him how to do his job, said Taylor.
Following more discussions, council directed administration to bring the Council Code of Conduct draft to a future meeting for more consideration before approval.