Town Council sworn in

Sharon McLeay  

Times Contributor 

 

Strathmore Town Council was sworn in at council chambers, at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 28.

The new Mayor Michael Ell and councillor’s Brad Walls and Denise Peterson were the new members to the team.

“I want to work with Council, to make sure this town moves forward. The first steps will be settling in and finding out what areas we have to work on,” said Mayor Ell.

The ceremony began with each member of council placing his hand on the Bible and swearing an oath of service. Staff Sgt. Kevin Reilly and Sgt. Steven Vince from the RCMP wore their red serge dress uniform and officially witness and took the oaths. Individual certificates were signed by each member of council, at which point they took their seats, some for the first time behind the council table.

Housekeeping tasks were taken care of with deputy mayor assignments for the term allocated. Also, members of council split up the various committees that they would sit on. Mayor Ell is appointed to all committees by way of his mayoral position, but not mandated to attend all committee meetings. The evening proceeded with orientations regarding procedural policies, and Lawyer Joanne M. Klauer presented an informative session on legal issues.

Klauer reinforced the necessity for members of the Council to examine what they say and do in the public eye, with attention given to Municipal Government Act (MGA) and Freedom and Protection of Information guidelines. She gave them a hardline that they could not cross, according to the MGA, that separated their work from the work done by the CAO, staff departments, and business interactions in the community. She indicated the Mayor had no overriding powers and had one vote, just as the other members of council. She went on to explain their roles and responsibility to work and consider issues based on the municipality as a whole, and the need to refrain from bias in decision making processes, or taking hard stances in public on any issue, leaving room in their minds for new information or opinions that varied from their own. Klauer also indicated in camera sessions could be utilized for discussions on draft material, prior to presenting the information formally to the public. Personal liability situations and situations that could lead to dismissal from council were outlined.

She gave examples from other municipalities, where a failure to pay attention to MGA led to legal actions in the court.