The Reality of a City Councillor’s Job.
High Achievers need not apply. Disappointment will surely be the outcome.
City Council elections will take place in November.
As a resident of the City of Kawartha Lakes, I have recently taken a greater interest in municipal politics than in the past. The current Mayor and 8 Councillors are shown here
I have met and had lengthy conversations with two City Councillors over the past month. I wanted to better understand the role and scope of authority that they had undertaken 4 years ago and to ask if they were satisfied with what they had accomplished. I have also had similar discussions with a long-time friend who is completing his second term as senior Councillor for the City of Oshawa.
One fact stands out from these discussions.
The Ontario government’s Municipality Act tightly defines the roles, responsibilities and scope of authority that it allocated to all Municipal governments and their City Councils. It clearly demarcates what the Mayor and Councillors can, and cannot, accomplish for their local residents.
I admit to being unimpressed by the accomplishments claimed by these Councillors after 4 years in office. My frame of reference has been shaped by my personal experience in the private sector, especially the final 8 years.
Between late 2009 and early 2018, I was Director of the Talent Supply Chain for the international division of a Canadian consulting company. We built from scratch an organization of specialists and experts who were highly skilled at implementing SAP Enterprise Resource Planning systems for automotive manufacturing plants. Over 8 years, we replaced the aging legacy systems with an advanced, enterprise-wide SAP system at over 110 plants located in Brazil, Mexico, the USA and France. These, and other systems integration projects of significant scope and impact, were all accomplished successfully.
Apples and Oranges
The ability for some private sector organizations to achieve major undertakings with great success is beyond impressive. I was fortunate to be a key member on top notch management and consulting teams that delivered projects for out clients which produced great and enduring results. The “successes” claimed by those City Councillors were insignificant by comparison.
I can’t blame them for their dearth of accomplishments, however. I lay the blame on the Municipal Act of Ontario and the way governments generally operate. Their endless rules (by-laws, procedures, labyrinth of permission sign-offs, etc) and provincial regulations stifle innovation, productivity and genuine improvements to the quality of services provided to the public.
Take a few minutes to browse the link provided and it will convince you that all Council members have a ball and chain attached to both ankles and handcuffs binding both wrists as they go about trying to accomplish anything of real significance. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/01m25#top
No Job Is Perfect.
Yes, there were policies, procedures and politics in my industry too. We often faced adversarial actors who wanted us to fail, but we succeeded by a mixture of informed decision-making and an ability to adapt nimbly to changing circumstances. As a ‘for profit’ enterprise, we also had a clear focus on completing every project on time, profitably and to the satisfaction of our customers.
I had considered running for City Council.
I have been a politically active Advocate for Less Government since 2017 and someone who has believed since the late 1970s that Canada already has too much government. If I were to ever consider running for Council, it would be with an eye to reduce the size, cost and scope of authority that governments exercise to impinge on the freedoms and prosperity of our citizens. I doubt that I could even make a dent in that goal, and I realize that I am in a tiny minority of voters who even see this objective as desirable.
After some thinking, I know for certain that I could never achieve anywhere close to the same level of work satisfaction as a City Councillor that I had experienced during my time as Director, Talent Supply Chain. Those were undoubtedly the best years of my 42 year career. By comparison, a job in “public service” as a City Councillor would surely be a pathetic “last act”.
