You’re The Boss At Ottawa City Hall: BENN

Is your city councillor meeting your standards?

After all in a democracy, despite all appearances, you are the boss. Councillors must meet your standards, not their standards or the public service’s standards, your standards.

One of those standards is oversight.

There is a statutory requirement for city council to provide oversight of city managers. Statutory, as in must be done according to statute. Must be done. Not if it suits the politically expedient purpose. Must.

The manner in which council oversees city management is important. It is vital that the oversight be part of the public record. Management recommendations need to be examined and challenged. Not in an angry, threatening manner. Rather in an inquisitive, polite manner. The answers need to be examined carefully to ensure that the answers given are complete and actually respond to the question posed.

There needs to be a dialogue to ensure that councillors are in a position to make informed decisions. Sometimes the answer is that we will have to get back to you on that, with the natural conclusion that the decision will be deferred until the new information is provided and fully examined.

What is implicit in this is that staff reports are complete, accurate and timely. How else can a councillor be expected to make an informed decision? How else can a councillor perform their statutory role of oversight?

Complete as in providing a summary description of the decision criteria, why those criteria were chosen, a brief discussion of the various alternatives that were examined, and why the course of action is being recommended.

Accurate implies that data is not selected on the basis of supporting or refuting a preferred outcome. To fail to include data that does not support the decision is manipulative. And who wants to be manipulated? Why would a councillor with the duty to oversee management accept being manipulated?

Timely means that the report is received well in advance of the meeting at which a decision must be made. It takes time to read reports. To understand the decision criteria, the alternatives and the recommendation. It takes time to develop questions that delve into the ideas of the staff who prepared it. It takes time to discuss the report with fellow councillors to ensure that there is a clear understanding of the situation.

If a councillor is not getting the quality of report that is necessary to make a fully informed decision, councillors need to instruct staff to do a better job. Politely, but firmly.

One last word on oversight. Delegating important decisions to staff is an abdication of oversight. A current example of this involves the location of sprung structures to provide temporary housing for asylum seekers. Councillors David Hill and Wilson Lo are pressing staff for information on location. Their questions would carry more weight had they not voted to authorize staff to make these hundred-million-dollar decisions.

Advocacy is a key element of a democracy. A councillor is elected to represent all of the residents of his or her ward not just a representative of those who voted in their favour or jjust a representative of a self-interest group they support. All of the people. Not just some of them. Very bluntly put, personal ideologies should never limit what a councillor is prepared to advocate on behalf of the residents.

Advocacy involves developing a clear understanding of what the residents of the ward, and depending on the issue, the residents of the city, want. It involves being able to differentiate between need and want. It involves listening. It requires a councillor to enter the room with an open mind. To be prepared to speak up on behalf of the residents even if what they need or want is not entirely consistent with one’s own preferences. Councillors are the voice of the people at council … all of the residents, not just those whose concerns resonate with those of the councillor.

To be clear, not every request should be advocated. Some demands by residents are contrary to the laws of the land. Some are outside the terms of reference of the city. Some are impractical to implement. The councillor needs to make this assessment and explain why he or she cannot advocate on behalf of these types of demands.

Finally, leadership. When a person decides to run for public office they are running for a position of leadership. Leadership is a responsibility. It means demonstrating on a daily basis the integrity of the office. Every day, in every situation, whether while ‘on duty’ or not. Getting into public hissy fits with constituents is counterproductive. It diminishes the public’s respect for the office.

Leadership involves leading, including by example. Case in point. A committee spent hours debating the relative merits of an amendment to the idling bylaw. Council followed up with another extended discussion on the same topic. At end of all of this protracted public positioning Mayor Mark Sutcliffe acknowledged that the city lacked the resources to enforce the existing bylaw, let alone the amended one. Oh, and did I mention that the amended idling bylaw exempts pretty much every city vehicle? Not a stellar endorsement for the concept of leading by example.

The city’s leadership group spends hours massaging virtue signals to the exclusion of dealing with more pressing issues such as identifying priorities on how to manage the cash flow shortfalls for OC Transpo, or the continuing problems with those who are without homes, or … well pretty much any other issue that the city has a direct responsibility for.

Ask yourself, are the mayor and council performing their role as councillors to a standard worthy of the position?

Ron Benn, a finance executive, has been a member of the Centrepointe Community Association for the better part of three decades.

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