Mayor's School

SUMA, Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association, held their first Mayor's School at the University of Regina August 18 - 20. The idea came from a visit by the Executive Director to the Ukraine when he learned the Mayor's there go to 'school.' Judging by the remarks of my colleagues and my own experience, the event was a success. Here are some the things we did and what I learned. by the way: "What is said in Mayors' School stays in Mayors' School."

The Legislative Building in Regina, August 2013

The session opened with a team game. Success meant reading all of the rules, successfully delegating responsibilities, planning the tactics, coordination, and some luck. My team finished 3rd. It was a terrific way to meet Mayoral colleagues from around the province. Forty-two mayors attended including mayors with more than 15 years of experience and rookies like me. Mayors came from villages as small as 70 to more than 35,000. As a result we had broad discussions on a wide array of topics. The mayors in attendance from West Central Saskatchewan included Eston, Unity, North Battleford, and Kindersley.

Our first full day started by spending time with former Lieutenant-Governor Gordon Barnhart. Mr. Barnhart spoke for an hour leaving me with these points:

• Network: I am an introvert by nature and need to continually remind myself to do this.
• Be polite.
• Be open to new ideas.
• Be persistent.
• Be principled.
• Be positive.
• Tell the truth.
• Take risks.
• Live with consequences.
• Mentor and be mentored.
• Don't take it too seriously.
• Enjoy the experience!

We also discussed the "Line in the Sand:" that point between the leadership of making vision setting, policies, and decision making and managing operations. It was a good conversation in which the principles applied to a town like Kindersley may not be the same for a village. What surprised me most was the amount of legislation that determines our relationship with Administration. I have heard people criticize our governance model but, a lot of it is right our of legislation. As a result of this I would like there to be a workshop for municipal officials covering the variety of legislation we have to work with and under. We also discussed the dynamic between Admin and Council. Believe it or not, there can be trust issues between the two and it runs both ways.

The next topic was Council Engagement: how can Councillors be effective and engaged. A mayor of 26 years also shared the different types Councillors. Some of the advice passed on my seasoned mayors include:

• Communicate,
• Don't take Council personally,
• Support one another,
• Keep our noses in and fingers out,
• Evaluate meetings,
• Focus on the future and vision.

Public Engagement was the next agenda item. Questions covered included:

• How do you share Council's vision with your constituents?
• Is there a difference between the business community and citizens?
• What about interest groups?
• What can go wrong?

The final afternoon session was on negative people. Thankfully Kindersley doesn't have negative people. However, it is important to remember that the 'negative nellies' may be right sometimes so it is important to get the facts. Here are the types of negative people identified:

• Chronic - always negative
• Two sided - somewhat reasonable
• Attacker - always after people
• Omitter - emphasis negative and doesn't recognize the positive

That night we had a choice of 3 themed dinners to discuss: Succession Planning on Council and the Future of Our Community, Public Engagement, Capacity Building and Partnership. I attended the meal talking about Public Engagement at Fortuna, the new restaurant owned and operated by former Regina Mayor Pat Fiacco.

Our final day was spent split between media training and an open dialogue about our current needs and issues, potential solutions, and resources. For media training we did mock interviews on both fictional and non-fictional stories. Some were hilarious and other very serious but they didn't prepare me to discuss white supremacists when I returned to Kindersley. The CBC TV interviewed me about Mayor's School but I don't think it made it to air.

This the Readers Digest version of Mayor's School. I learned that I am doing some things right and I have identified opportunities for me to improve. Should there be another Mayor's School I would like to see:

• an overview of relevant legislation,
• themed groups covering relevant needs and issues,
• themed groups allowing municipalities to develop partnerships to leverage strengths and overcome challenges,
• experts delivering messages on topics

There is no book or manual that tells you "How to be Mayor." To move our respective communities forward we need strong governance, stewardship, leadership, and more; we all need to enhance our respective capacities to best serve our communities.