I subscribe to a couple of daily clippings services about local government goings-on in Canada. It is common for at least one of the notices to be about things going badly in a municipal council meeting, and often it’s where the public interfaces with the municipality.
Most of the time, I write these posts from the perspective of the elected official or administrator, but this time it speaks to the public and others who present to councils because of what I noted right at the start.
Fundamentally, the reason that council meetings and sometimes committee meetings are open to the public is so that people can see their government in action. The ‘public’ nature of these meetings doesn’t mean that they are interactive, where people can participate in the meeting as they see fit. In our representative democracy, we elect people from among us to provide oversight into how our communities run. We get to participate through elections and through other avenues of engagement throughout the term. For the most part, we don’t get to participate in council meetings.
Mayors, reeves, wardens, and councillors are all elected to work together to look after our interests. Topics come before them to be debated and decisions made. Direction is provided to administrators and there is an expectation that the direction will keep our communities strong and viable. If this is thoroughly understood and respected by elected officials and administrators, the council meeting process usually runs smoothly.
Some councils have a portion of their agenda where there is an opportunity for citizens to speak to council within the context of the meeting. This is often restricted to topics that are on the agenda, but not always. I am not a fan of this type of occurrence because it is an opportunity for meetings to quickly go off the rails. If a person desires to speak with council, an individual or a group can get themselves on a council meeting agenda as a delegation, so the ‘open mic’ is at least redundant, and at worst an opportunity for conspiratorial grandstanding that makes the news far too often.
Recently, the City of Whitehorse adopted a policy that outlined what civility is expected of people who attend council meetings. That this is required at all is a damning indictment of how much our public discourse has degraded recently. My issue is not with the city, but with those who need to be told how to behave when in public. Many other municipalities have signs on the wall noting that uncivil behaviour will not be tolerated. Again, this is required because of people behaving badly.
Council members don’t get let off the hook either though. If they model poor behaviour – and far too many of them do – then they ought not be surprised when the public picks up on that and adopts loud, insulting behaviour too. Until council members behave better and model their best behaviour, no amount of legislation or passive signage is going to change the interactions in chambers.
Proper presentations to council need to be well planned and thought out even before the presentation happens. Having witnessed many presentations from both sides of the council bench, the best presentations are:
Planned in advance
Material is provided to the municipal clerk in time to be included as part of the council package
Brief and to the point, following a script or talking points rather than rambling
Come with some sort of ask or request
Have opportunity for questions and follow up both within the presentation and afterwards.
Councils deal with dozens of topics every meeting, and those topics vary considerably, so making a presentation memorable is one key to getting a decision made.
Understanding the municipal meeting procedure rules and any documentation provided to delegations helps reality and expectations meet. There is nothing more frustrating than a grandstanding presenter who really just wants to noisily make their point rather than adding constructive context to the life of the municipality.
As a municipal leader, how would you describe the best types of presentations or delegations that you receive within the context of a council or committee meeting?
As always, you can reach me at ian@strategicsteps.ca
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