Councillors have NO authority to hire, fire, supervise, discipline or evaluate any staff of a municipality other than their Administrator. (revised article) Full Stop. I do not know why we are tiptoeing around this when the legislation is abundantly clear. Recently during a webinar about legislated responsibilities for municipal employers, we ran into it again. Councillors reported to be micromanaging their CAO/Administrator by interfering with hiring, supervision, evaluation and discipline...

Councillors have NO authority to hire, fire, supervise, discipline or evaluate any staff of a municipality other than their Administrator. Full Stop. I do not know why we are tiptoeing around this when the legislation is abundantly clear. Recently, during a webinar about legislated responsibilities for municipal employers, we ran into it again. Councillors reported to be micromanaging their CAO/Administrator by interfering with hiring, supervision, evaluation and discipline of staff. I...

by Lorri Matthewson Administrator overreach happens when a CAO or municipal staff begin exercising powers that legally and democratically belong to Council. It’s not always intentional — but it almost always causes governance problems and makes Council look ineffective to the people who elected them. One of the biggest contributors to overreach is Council not staying in its lane. When Councillors spend their time chasing grader operators or micromanaging day‑to‑day operations, it may look...