There鈥檚 more to being on town council than showing up for a few meetings a month and voting 鈥測ea鈥� or 鈥渘ay鈥� on issues.
There are hours spent reading the agenda, researching what other communities do, critically thinking about issues, talking to community members and fielding phone calls, emails and questions from people on the street.
That鈥檚 something that many people don鈥檛 know about the otherwise glamorous life of the mayor and council, said Coun. Brian Skehill, who was part of a panel discussion about what it means to be a councillor, Sept. 4.
鈥淵ou have to realize that there鈥檚 tons of work to be done at home before you even go to these meetings,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd if you don鈥檛 do it, you鈥檙e not going to be prepared.鈥�
Preparation was something that was stressed by nearly everyone on the panel, including Skehill, Coun. Brenda Zinck, retired councillor Gloria Kongsrud and Mayor Richard Ireland.
Zinck said another thing people might be surprised to know is that council often spends hours discussing and debating decisions that could seemingly take no more than a few minutes.
鈥淪ometimes we talk for hours about the simplest things, but it鈥檚 so critical in the end because it affects our residents,鈥� she said, noting that it鈥檚 important to enter those discussions with an open mind.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want to be so close minded that you come [to a meeting] and you say, 鈥楾his is the way it is.鈥� You want to listen to your fellow councillors and listen to the community.鈥�
And by that, said Zinck, she means the entire community, not just the select people who show up to a council meeting.
鈥淵ou have to remember there鈥檚 a community out there that might not show up to a meeting or might not approach you or may approach you privately. You need to give your ears to the whole community, not just to the people who are in your face.鈥�
That can sometimes be challenging, so you have to have a tough skin to put your name up for election, she said, noting that she鈥檚 never succeeded in building her own.
Along with sporting a bullet proof outer layer, it鈥檚 important to be an active listener, critical, attentive and respectful, said Ireland.
You also have to be prepared to ask all the right questions, because 鈥渋t鈥檚 not council鈥檚 responsibility to administer anything. We have people that do that and we have to challenge them to make sure they are doing the best job for the community, given our resources.鈥�
Ireland said the distinction between what council does and what administration does is an important one to remember.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not [council鈥檚] job to jump in the snow plow or even to tell the snow plow operator how to do their job. [Being on council] is a very general oversight capacity that works best when councillors recognize the importance of being really well prepared, reading the documents, thinking about the questions that ought to be asked and asking them.鈥�
To be prepared for the job and to attend all of the ribbon cuttings and events, Ireland said he works somewhere between 60 and 80 hours a month.
He admitted, though, that somewhere down the line in his nearly 30颅-year political career, he stopped keeping such close track of the hours spent on council matters.
鈥淚t was just too demoralizing,鈥� he said with a laugh.
Nomination papers for mayor and council, as well as school trustee, can be submitted Sept. 23 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at 303 Pyramid Lake Rd.
The municipal election is Oct. 21. Polls will be open from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the Jasper Activity Centre. There will be an advanced poll Oct. 16 from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., also in the activity centre.
Nicole Veerman
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