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.

Why Complaining About Town Staff to Council Doesn’t Actually Fix the Problem

Every municipality—no matter its size—runs on a simple structure: Council sets the direction, and administration carries it out. When those roles stay clear, the community gets steady, reliable service. But when the lines blur, things get messy fast.

Here’s a situation that happens in almost every town.

A resident walks into the municipal office feeling frustrated. Maybe a bylaw ticket felt unfair. Maybe a service took longer than expected. Maybe a conversation with a staff member didn’t go well. Instead of speaking with the CAO or the staff member’s supervisor, the resident goes straight to a councillor. It makes sense on the surface—councillors are elected, visible, and easy to approach. Many people assume Council oversees every detail of municipal operations.

But here’s the part most people don’t realize: taking staff complaints to Council doesn’t fix the issue. In fact, it often makes things harder to resolve.

Council’s job is to set policy, not manage employees. Council decides what services the municipality provides, what the budget priorities are, and what policies guide the organization. But Council does not supervise staff. That responsibility belongs to the CAO, who is the only employee Council directly oversees. When residents ask Council to step into staff matters, they’re asking elected officials to take on a role they’re not meant to play. That leads to confusion, mixed messages, and even legal problems.

Staff also deserve a workplace free from political pressure. Imagine trying to do your job knowing that any interaction with the public might end up in front of elected officials. That’s not fair to staff, and it doesn’t help the community. When complaints go directly to Council, staff feel undermined, the CAO’s authority is weakened, and decisions can start to look political instead of professional. Municipalities function best when staff can do their work without worrying about political influence.

Municipal government is built on a clear structure: Council governs, the CAO manages, and staff deliver services. Staff need to make decisions based on bylaws, policy, safety, and professional standards—not on who complained to a councillor. When councillors start directing staff or weighing in on HR matters, staff may feel pressured to treat residents differently depending on who they know, change decisions to avoid upsetting elected officials, or worry that their job depends on politics rather than performance. That’s political interference, and it shifts with every election. When Council manages staff, decisions can become tied to personal relationships or political considerations, which is not a stable or ethical way to run a community.

There’s also a legal reality many people don’t know.  In Manitoba, Council has only one employee—the CAO. Everyone else reports to the CAO, not to Council. If councillors start telling staff what to do, approving or denying leaves, disciplining employees, interpreting HR policies, or investigating staff complaints, they are acting outside their legal role. That’s political interference because elected officials are inserting themselves into operational decisions, they have no authority to make.

Here’s the heart of it: bringing staff complaints to Council doesn’t solve the problem. It creates new ones. Council isn’t allowed to manage staff. Staff deserve a workplace free from politics. And the CAO is the person with the authority and responsibility to address staff concerns properly.

If something goes wrong, the CAO is the right person to contact. They can investigate the issue, follow the proper process, and make sure it’s handled fairly. A well‑run municipality depends on clear roles, respectful communication, and a structure that protects both staff and residents. When we follow that structure, the community gets better service and a more stable local government.