The Value of Offsite Council Meetings

ORIGINALLY POSTED: Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Weekends are precious to most families. Staying in a hotel and sleeping in a bed that is not my own; spending time from eight in the morning until ten at night talking shop; with breaks only for meals, this is not my idea of a fun weekend, even if the Town is paying for it.

I liked it even less when John West had us driving north to a frozen wilderness to get the cheapest rate possible. I swore I would never do that again.

At the beginning of the last term, the new council went to the Nottawasaga Inn. It was a reasonable drive. Staff had negotiated a package for meals and accommodation. Speakers had been engaged. A considerable amount of work had already been done. All that remained was for council members to take advantage of the opportunity. Three did not.

We had two presentations from outside experts: one on the law focused on legal pitfalls for municipal councillors and how to steer clear of them. The second presentation was on shifts in population, both world-wide and domestically, changes in provincial planning policies and how they impacted on our own development. The rest of the program consisted of reports on the current status and background of Town projects that were underway at the time.

It was a weighty program and the people who attended were wiser for it. It is a useful and normal practice to do an offsite orientation. Well worth the investment. Whether we do it again this term remains to be seen.