A Typical Monday Night for Council

Hi Everyone:

Were you able to watch Council last night on the computer? To watch it, the address is https://www.kindersley.ca/counciltv, or you can click on “Council TV” on top of the left column on the Town's homepage. The live streams are archived so you can watch previous meetings if you wish.

This is how a typical Council night takes place (meetings are mostly the same but some details may be different):

Portrait of Lord Kindersley on the left and Queen Elizabeth on the right.

The first part of a meeting is an ‘in camera session.’ It is used to discuss issues of a confidential nature related to labour, land, and law. Since Council has been elected, we have moved as many topics as possible to the public session. If you see Council move into ‘in camera’ it is to discuss labour, land, and law. All conversations held ‘in camera’ are confidential and are not to be discussed in public.

Here is what we did last Monday, August 12: Our meeting started at 4:00 pm to discuss governance with Linda Fast for an hour and a half. It was a very good discussion as we clarified our roles and responsibilities and expectations. In 1.5 hours, we covered two policies and started a third. We have committed to working with Linda on the first Monday of the month.

The last nine Mayors of Kindersley

At 5:30 pm, we met with a contractor to discuss unforeseen challenges in the completion of a contract. It was for information purposes.

At 6:00 pm, two hours after the meeting started, we heard from the consultants who are conducting an Organizational Effectiveness Review for the Town. They provided us with an overview of their approach, their timelines, and what they need from us. This portion of the meeting concluded at 6:55 pm so we could start the public session at 7:00 pm.

After the public session concludes, Council is free to continue conversations from the ‘in camera’ session to clarify direction Administration is to follow, provide updates on what people are saying around town, or ask questions to better understand issues, policy, or governance (there is a lot of learning). Plus, we do visit and see how things are going before heading home for the evening. Last night, we finished the meeting at 10:00 pm and I left Chambers at 11:00 pm.

Often, I will speak with one of the Councillors about something to ensure things are going as they hoped and that being on Council is a good experience. Finally, Bernie, our CAO, and I will debrief about the meeting to better understand what has transpired and how we can do a better job to ensure Kindersley is receiving good government.

That is more or less how Council spends two Mondays a month. This does not include what a week or day may look like. The reading we do, including information packages, reports, correspondence, and other prep for a Council meeting has taken a whole day. Typically I do it over the weekend because we don't receive our packages until Friday afternoon and they need to be read for Monday's meeting.

If you have any questions please let me know.