Council roles and responsibilities

The council is the governing body of the municipal corporation and the custodian of its powers, both legislative and administrative. The Municipal Government Act provides that councils can only exercise the powers of the municipal corporation in the proper form, either by bylaw or resolution.

The councillor's job is to work with other council members to set the overall direction of the municipality through their role as a policy maker. The policies that council sets are the guidelines for administration to follow as it does the job of running a municipality. A councillor will spend a lot of time while on council creating new policies and programs or reviewing the current ones to make sure they are working as they should.

The Councillors

Under the Municipal Government Act, councillors have the following duties:

To consider the welfare and interests of the municipality as a whole and, to bring to council's attention anything that would promote the welfare or interests of the municipality
To participate generally in developing and evaluating the policies and programs of the municipality
To participate in council meetings and council committee meetings and meetings of other bodies to which they are appointed by the council
To obtain information about the operation or administration of the municipality from the chief administrative officer
To keep in confidence matters discussed in private at a council committee meeting until discussed at a meeting held in public
To perform any other duty or function imposed on councillors by this or any other enactment or by the council.

The Chief Elected Official (CEO): Mayor, Reeve or I.D. Chairperson

The CEO, in addition to performing a councillor's duties, must preside when attending a council meeting, unless a bylaw provides otherwise. The CEO must also perform any other duty imposed under the MGA or any other enactment. In practice, the CEO is also generally the main spokesperson for the municipality, unless that duty is delegated to another councillor. The title CEO may be changed to one that council feels is appropriate to the office, such as mayor, reeve, or I.D. chairperson.

The CEO of a city or town is elected by a vote of a municipality's electors, unless the council passes a bylaw requiring council to appoint the CEO from among the councillors. In a village, summer village, or municipal district, council appoints the CEO from among the councillors unless it passes a bylaw providing that the official is to be elected by a vote of the municipality's electors. The CEO role includes:

Chairperson of council
Consensus seeker amongst members of council
Liaison with senior staff
Advisor to council
Ex officio member on various boards and committees
Key representative with regard to ceremonial responsibilities
Liaison with other levels of government
Advice with regard to policy development

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