All levels of administration are concentrated in this single building. It is divided into various departments. This is place where you go to renew your driver’s license, get building permit or pay your taxes and many other issues involving daily life. The function is very similar to municipalities in other western countries where a major is elected as the head of all affairs. The establishment of policies guiding the operation of the municipality is a key responsibility of council.

Roles of Council

When members of council accept office they promise to truly, faithfully and impartially, to the best of their knowledge and ability, execute the duties of their office, without any payment or reward for the exercise of any partiality. Electors entrust the management of their affairs to council and expect council to cause: the laws of the municipality to be observed; negligence and violation of duty by officers to be punished and meritorious service to be recognized; and measures improving the finances, health, security and ornament of the municipality to be recommended.

Council members must: become informed on problems facing the municipality; learn about the legal powers and limitations to solve the problems; decide questions without fear, favour or evasion in the public interest; resist pressures of groups organized for selfish purposes; and create in the community an intelligent interest in public affairs.

It is the duty, obligation and responsibility of each council member to attend all meetings of council and take part in the debates and discussions. Each member of council present shall vote on all questions unless he or she abstains, or unless he or she is prohibited from doing so by The Municipal Act or The Municipal Conflict of Interest Act.

Council members play three major roles - the "representative" role, the "policy-making" role and the "managerial" role.

The Representative Role

There are two schools of thought regarding the representative role played by council members. One school holds that council is elected to represent, as directly as possible, the wishes and views of the electorate. The council is a "mirror" reflecting what constituents want done with issues before Council. The contrasting school holds that council is elected to exercise, (with the benefit of a much broader base of knowledge than is available to the general public) judgment about what decisions are in the best interest of the public.

In practice, there is no single correct approach to this representative role - it may vary from one council member to another and from one issue to another. Most often council members will fall somewhere between the two viewpoints.

The main activity involved in the representative role is the receiving and investigating of citizen inquiries. To do this effectively council members must be aware of existing council policies. Often, council members are approached with appeals regarding municipal policies or procedures. Although you may want to find some way of helping, caution should be exercised and in many cases discussion with staff would be wise before finalizing any commitment.

The Policy-Making Role

The establishment of policies guiding the operation of the municipality is a key responsibility of council. Ideally, policy-making and adoption require council to: identify and consider issues regarding attention; reach agreements on the facts of the issue and objectives to be met; identify and analyze alternative solutions; make a decision and develop a policy; and implement the policy through staff who monitor the policy for effectiveness.

In practice, policy-making is less rational and orderly because of: the increasing change and complexity of issues, the lack of time to identify and research all possible alternatives, legal and financial limitations; and the complexity of implementing policies and developing mechanisms to monitor their implementation.

The Managerial Role

Ultimately, council is responsible for ensuring that the municipality's resources are used as efficiently and economically as possible, consistent with the objectives of municipal government.

Council's "managerial" role is to ensure that: policies are implemented as developed by council; services and programs are administered as intended; rules and regulations are applied correctly and consistently; and funds are only expended as authorized. However, there is a fine line between the overall management of a municipality and management of the actual activities.