When Councillors Go Rogue: The Quiet Crisis Undermining Local Government

Every municipality has “that Councillor.” And if you haven’t yet, there is always the next election! You know which one I mean. They are the ones who cannot resist micromanaging staff. They are the ones who treat the CAO like their personal assistant. They are the ones who promise the residents something they cannot deliver, then stir up drama on the socials, or freelance their own agenda as if they were a one-person show. They boss the public works staff around, follow the grader operator around, demand private information, and only want to provide services to their own division. They yell, they get involved in the daily operations, and on it goes.

This isn’t just a colourful personality.

This is a governance failure.

When Councils refuse—or are too afraid—to rein in one of their own, the damage spreads fast: staff morale collapses, operations grind to a halt, and the public loses trust in the entire institution.

This is rogue governance, and it’s one of the most detrimental things to a community’s ability to sustain itself.

A Councillor “goes rogue” when they act in a way that does not support collective decision making and start acting like a lone operator. Councillors acting outside their authority:

1.        Direct staff or demand preferential treatment for their friends or their division.

2.        Ask for, or demand, confidential information.

3.        Undermine council decisions after the vote.

4.        Make public statements as if they speak for the council.

5.        Promise residents outcomes that do not exist.

6.        Meddle in HR, procurement or operations.

7.        Use their position to intimidate staff or sway processes.

Doing these things breaches their role, their authority, and often the legislation.

This is dangerous, and here are the reasons why.

1.        Rogue Councillors put staff in an impossible position.

Staff cannot legally take direction from individual councillors. Rogue councillors pressure them anyway, sometimes subtly, sometimes aggressively. This creates fear, confusion and a toxic workplace.

2.      It undermines the CAO.

A rogue Councillor chips away at the CAO’s authority, often intentionally, because the CAO gets the blame when the Councillor does not get his or her way. I see it happen when Councillors behave terribly towards the CAO in public, creating a situation where the community doesn’t trust them. Once that happens, it threatens the administrative structure.

3.        It Misleads the Public

Residents assume Councillors speak with authority. When a rogue Councillor spreads misinformation or makes promises, the public blames the staff when those promises are not kept.

4.             It Wrecks the Council

Council only has authority when it acts as a whole council. This is not a guideline; there are no exceptions within the legislation. When a councillor goes rogue, in other words, refuses to stay in their legislated lane, they create a liability for their community due to privacy breaches, HR complaints, procurement interference, and wrongful dismissal lawsuits. This kind of behavior is not harmless.

Yet when it happens, particularly in a small population, many Councils do not address the issue. They don’t want conflict, and they, for the most part, hope the behavior will settle down.

The smaller the population, the harder it is to enforce the rules. The Council is made up of people who all know each other. Some of them are related. And social media, once it gets out to the public, is relentless. But a council that won’t enforce its own rules is a council that becomes functionally useless.

When a Councillor goes rogue, the rest of the Council has to know that the  behaviour does not improve if the Council does not act. It is important to:

1.        Re-establish the rules—formally and publicly. Council must reaffirm:

·            The CAO’s authority

·            The boundary between governance and authority

·            The requirement to act as a collective body

·            The code of conduct.

2.      Document Every Incident:

Documentation protects:

·            The staff

·            The CAO

·            The Municipality

·            The integrity of any future investigation.

Keeping it quiet protects the rogue at the municipality's expense.

3.      Use the code of conduct as it is intended—a disciplinary tool. Council is expected to function as an ethical body, and the code of conduct is where you start. Council must:

·            File a formal complaint.

·            Conduct an investigation

·            Apply consequences

Consequences may include:

·            Removal from committees

·            Loss of travel or training privileges

·            Public censure

·            Mandatory training

If the Council refuses to use its own tools, it supports the rogue behavior.

4.      Back the CAO—Publicly and Consistently

Council should not expect a CAO to enforce boundaries alone. Council must:

·            Support the CAO’s authority.

·            Reject attempts to bypass the process.

·            Shut down operational interference immediately.

Being quiet as a Councillor while you let another Councillor abuse staff, the CAO, and otherwise act outside their role is seen as permission.

5.        Bring in External Help If You Need It

If the Council cannot manage this on its own, it should seek help. Sometimes, though, despite the training and being told, some Councillors take on the notion that they don’t need permission and don't have to follow the rules. And it is true; the systems we have in place make it very difficult to unseat someone who has been duly elected. There are good reasons for that—once the population elects you in, you shouldn’t be able to be dumped off the Council without it being difficult. But as a Council, when you refuse to address behaviors that you know are wrong, you force your municipality to pay a very steep price. Staff resign. CAOs leave. Your community doesn’t trust you. Decision-making becomes chaotic. Important things get dumped to the back of the list while all the resources go to the most recent drama. Communities deserve better than to be held hostage by one person’s ego or agenda.

The bottom line is rogue Councillors don’t destroy communities, but Councils that refuse to act do. Councils must understand their duty is to the community, not the comfort of a colleague who flat-out refuses to follow the rules.

Being on Council is Serious Business

It is amazing to me to see how people weigh in online on politics in the U.S., in Canada, and provincially, while patently ignoring the government closest to the people.

Your municipality’s Council chamber is where decisions are made about roads, water, recreation, safety, and long-term community well-being.

That is why the role of Councillor demands seriousness, preparation, and respect for the position. And yet, it happens too often in our small-population communities that we find ourselves represented by people who treat the position as a hobby, a platform for personal grievances, or a social club rather than a public responsibility.

This is serious stuff, particularly in a smaller population, when the decisions of the Council have far-reaching implications, impacts that can and do kill a community years after the Council made a decision.

It is a Councillor’s job to show up prepared, read the backgrounder prepared by the Administration, and make decisions in accordance with their policy and legislation. It is not the Council’s job to micromanage staff, chase personal vendettas, or perform for social media. It is not to treat governance as optional, something that can be ignored when it doesn’t fit the personal agenda.

The role is to read, think, question, and make decisions. The role is to understand legislation, policy, and procedure. It is to debate respectfully, even when there are differences of opinion. It is to show up ready to do the work the community trusted them to do.

Our communities deserve Councillors who understand that leadership is not about ego; it is about stewardship. It is about making decisions that will matter years from now. It is about respecting the time and expertise of municipal staff who cannot do their jobs properly when elected officials refuse to do theirs.

Residents have every right to expect that those they elected will act with due diligence, professionalism, and integrity. And Councillors who cannot or will not meet those standards should ask themselves why they stood for election in the first place, and whether they still deserve to hold it.

Residents, too, need to take a hard look at how they choose the people they elect. Many times, people get elected because they are loudly committed to one specific issue—a road they want fixed, a program they want cut, a building they want saved, or something they want built.

Voting for someone solely because of a passion project is risky. Passion may get them elected, but that doesn’t mean they are equipped to govern. Municipal leadership requires broad thinking, not tunnel vision. A Councillor running on one issue often arrives at the table unprepared for the hundreds of other decisions that shape a community’s future.

Worse, single-issue candidates can become single-issue Councillors. They may ignore the bigger picture, derail meetings, or push their pet project at the expense of everything else, including infrastructure, finances, staff capacity, and long-term planning.

As a citizen, you need to look beyond such promises and determine whether the person understands their role. Are they prepared to make unpopular decisions? Do they respect the process? Because passion is not enough.

What Communities Should Look for In a New Council

If you want your Council to do better, you must elect better representatives, people who understand the weight of the role and who are prepared to carry it. Here are some things to look for:

1. Work Ethic

Candidates should demonstrate their willingness to learn about governance. The best Councillors take the time to understand the issues before they make a decision.

2. Respect for Staff and Process

A functional municipality depends on clear roles. Good Councillors respect the CAO structure, follow proper channels, and avoid mucking around in administration. They understand that staff are professionals.

3. Integrity and Accountability

Communities need people who tell the truth even when it is inconvenient, and who don’t hide behind excuses or blame. Accountability is the backbone of public trust.

4. Ability to Work as a Team

Council is not a collection of lone wolves; it is a governing body. Effective Councillors debate vigorously, disagree respectfully, and still move forward as a unified decision-making group.

5. Ability to Consider the Big Picture

Communities need leaders who see beyond the next election cycle. Seek out candidates who talk about sustainability, infrastructure, growth, and resilience. Quick wins and personal pet projects should be a big red flag.

6.Display Emotional Maturity

A Council table is no place for grudges, gossip, or theatrics. Residents should expect candidates who can manage their emotions, handle criticism, and behave like adults even under intense pressure.

7. Commit to the Whole Community

Good Councillors represent everyone, not just friends, not just those who voted them in, and not just the vocal minority. They consider the needs of all the people.

A community gets the Council it elects. If you, as a resident, want a Council that takes its responsibilities seriously, you must choose people who demonstrate seriousness, humility, and a genuine commitment to the public good.

Why Bitching on Social Media About Your Community Does Absolutely Nothing to Solve the Problem.

By Lorri Matthewson MBA in CED, Owner and Lead Consultant

Whole social media pages are devoted to complaining. And everyone watches while a thread goes off the rails about a rumor they heard, a pothole that never gets fixed, and the extraordinary amounts the community pays their staff. (I’ve seen what they have to put up with, whatever they are being paid, it is not enough).

It might feel like you are doing something when you start writing it up for social media, but just so you know:

Bitching on social media might feel like engagement, but it is not.

And worse? It actually causes your community harm.

If you care about where you live, it is worth understanding why.

1. It spreads misinformation faster than staff can correct it.

Most municipal issues are governed by legislation, budgets and policies—not your upset feels. Social media is all about the feels.

One wrong assumption in a comment can turn into:

·         The town doesn’t care

·         Council is corrupt

·         Staff are lazy

·         They should just fix it

No facts there, just an opinion, often formed in absence of correct information, but treated like it is the truth from the readers. Once that happens, people stop trusting their Council, and the staff. I always wonder how people you grew up with, work with and live with become the enemy because they made the choice to show up for your municipality. If you do suspect real corruption, (it happens) that is a topic for a whole different article.

2. It discourages good people from running for Council or working for the Town.

Imagine, you are doing the best work you can and then log in to see your former friends and neighbors dragging your name through the mud by people who never once contacted the office. That kind of public hostility:

·         Burns out staff

·         Discourages volunteers

·         Scares off many that would otherwise run for Council

·         Makes good Councillors quit

·         Hurts people

And no, that is not an acceptable occupational hazard. If you have a problem with something to do with the Council or the Administration, slandering someone online is not the approach you want to take.

3. It creates a culture of bitching instead of problem solving.

When the loudest voices are the angriest ones, people start believing that complaining is participation. It is not.

It can become a community based on negativity, and those communities are less collaborative, less trusting, less willing to volunteer. It hurts everyone in the community, including the complainers.

4. Municipal staff have policies and procedures that do not allow them to act based on social media posts.

Municipal staff do not track these posts, and they are not allowed to use them as formal complaints. So, while people are getting all fired up online, the actual issue sits untouched because no one reported the issue through the proper channel. The pothole doesn’t get filled faster because 47 people said “you go girl” and another 98 people said “unacceptable.”

5.It makes your town look bad.

People from outside your community see those threads too. Never-ending complaints affect business attraction, tourism, real estate sales, and community pride.

A town’s online culture becomes part of its reputation.  One of the reasons we chose the community we live in is that kind of thing seldom happens, and when it does, they are gently corrected by someone else in the community on the better way to handle the complaint. I followed their socials for a year or more while we were deciding where we wanted to live. We noticed, and we brought a business, bought a house and created a job for someone besides me. What you post matters.

1. Report the problem to the municipal office in whatever format is required.

People will bitch, but they won’t sign a complaint. They will, however, post it online under “anonymous” to get the party started. If you are confident enough to complain publicly you should be confident enough to attach your name to an actual complaint. Social media posts don’t get logged, don’t get investigated, and don’t get fixed. If you want results, use the real process. Otherwise, you are just venting into the void.

2. Ask questions before assuming you know everything.  

Don’t assume you have all the information, no matter who you heard it from. Rumors spread fast in a small town. Faster than the facts. Faster than the staff can possibly respond, assuming they even read it.

3.Council meetings are public. If you want to know how it works, you should go.

Just listening teaches you more about how your town works than socials do. Most people in a community have never attended a Council meeting and assume it works like any other volunteer committee. It most certainly does not. Your Council is a government and has rules up the wazoo.

4.Participate in surveys, consultations and planning sessions.

Councils use those tools to help inform their decision making. Complaining about the decisions when you excluded yourself from the decision-making process only results in frustration for you.

5.Fixing a problem for you or your group can cause a host of problems for someone else, or another group.

In a small population, every decision Council makes affects more than one person. When someone demands a quick fix, they don’t realize that solving their problem may create a lot of other problems for someone else. Municipal decisions don’t happen in a vacuum and if a staff changes a policy, adjusts a service, or makes an exception for one, it can, and has caused a ripple effect in ways that simply doesn’t occur to the complainer in the moment. The loudest person on social media isn’t the only person that the municipality must consider.  Municipal leadership must consider what is fair, consistent, fundable and legislated. They cannot and do not consider what they read on social media.

6. Resources are limited. Sometimes the choices are very tough.

Municipalities prioritize based on community need, determined by asset management, fiduciary responsibility, their budget, surveys and focus groups, and the information the Council gets from its rate payers through the complaint process and through the staff. That is why the proper complaint process—with names attached is so important. When someone signs their name, staff can verify the issue, understand the context, assess the broader impact, check for unintended consequences, and make a fair decision based on policy, or if need be, Council direction.

Posting it on social media skips all of that and demands instant action. Nobody wants to live in a community with a Council that pays any attention to that, because that is how bad decisions get made.