Newly formed town council now on the job
By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor
Miriam Ostermann Photo
Following weeks of campaigning, the election resulted in four new faces at the council table, including three women, bringing the total number of women councillors to four, a first in Strathmore’s history.
Last week, Mayor Pat Fule and Councillors Bob Sobol, Denise Peterson, Jason Montgomery, Lorraine Bauer, Melanie Corbiell and Tari Cockx participated in a half-hour long meeting complete with the Oath of Office, a visit from Chestermere-Rocky View MLA Leela Aheer, and discussions on the council seating arrangement, deputy mayoral duties and terms, and council meeting schedule for 2018.
“Long before I was elected I really enjoyed coming out to see mayors and councils, and municipal politics is the heartbeat of our communities,” said Aheer. “We’re so honoured to have these wonderful people put their names forward as we know in campaigns this is a hard thing to accomplish.
“I’m not your MLA yet, there’s a long path before that will happen. The boundaries commission has potentially given me the privilege of potentially running for you in the future. However I have a feeling, depending on what happens in the next few days, this could be a very hot ticket. In the meantime I’m honoured to be here. Congratulations to this magnificent council.”
As family members sat in town chambers championing their relatives, council entered into a short discussion on the deputy mayor’s schedule and responsibilities. The deputy mayor provides current councillors with the opportunity to take on mayor duties when the mayor is unavailable. Administration proposed a division of eight-month terms.
“The concern I raised is that the definition of our deputy mayor was simply to fill in for the mayor when required, and quite honestly there’s been a lot of discussion that perhaps the requirements of the responsibilities being expanded a little,” said returning Councillor Sobol.
The proposal for council’s consideration outlines eight-month terms starting in November 2017 and ending in October 2021. Councillor Peterson agreed with Councillor Sobol, noting that additional guidance of the deputy mayor role would allow for positive team building and creating a one-on-one partnership with the mayor. When Councillor Corbiell questioned the benefit of rotating councillors into the position rather than designating one person, Councillor Peterson provided a two-fold response.
“It allows that councillor to learn a different level of working in a leadership capacity within the council, it allows the community that elected us to see a different level of our capacity to be leaders, and it allows the mayor to work with each one of us in a leadership capacity that lends meaning to it,” said Councillor Peterson.
“I have a personal view. Very often when there’s a mayor and permanent deputy mayor, you wind up in a block situation where sometimes it forms an uneven balance of power within the council … that inadvertently can separate the council from the process. That’s a very personal decision, other people have different views.”
In addition, Councillor Peterson suggested approving the eight-months stints starting with Councillor Sobol while following the seating arrangement of the councillors.
“Our veteran councillor is a great person to have in the lead in this for the first deputy mayor,” she said. “There would be wisdom in that.”
Mayor Fule said it would be beneficial to have outlined job descriptions and parameters for deputy mayor which would aid in building a strong council.
Council unanimously passed the motion to approve the deputy mayor schedule as presented in the order of the council seating arrangement starting with Councillor Sobol, to be implemented immediately.
Council also passed a motion to direct administration to work with council towards creating a bylaw with standards, processes and terms of reference for a deputy mayor position for each councillor for an eight-month period as stated previously.