Leadership – the ability of an individual or organization to influence, guide, and inspire others toward a common goal. Is leadership of our County the singular responsibility of one person, the Mayor, or is it shared by Council as a whole ? And, as you consider this question, let us not forget the leadership roles and contributions on a variety of specific issues from many non-elected members and organizations in our community e.g. service clubs, religious organizations, sports clubs, schools.

The role of the Mayor (Head of Council) as defined in the Municipal Act includes the provision of leadership to the council in terms of ensuring that administrative policies, practices and procedures are in place to implement the decisions of council; ensuring the accountability and transparency of the operations of the municipality, including the activities of the senior management of the municipality.

The overall, strategic level leadership of the Municipality (our County) rests with Council as a whole (of which the Mayor is a member – in our case, 1 of 11) and not with any individual and I believe Council is, and more specifically Councillors are, elected by voters to lead in the best interests of the community.

And what is the common goal for the County? I believe the common goal is in part mandatory, addressing the needs of the community – services and facilities determined to be necessary and articulated in many and various Acts and regulations from higher levels of government – and in part discretionary, addressing the wants of the community – assessed, adjudicated and funded by Council (through property taxes, fundraising, development charges and grants) and guided by many inputs (e.g. public input, technology trends, financial capacity).

The County’s strategic plan sets out the common goal – it contains a vision, mission statement, strategic priorities, and lower level goals to guide Council and County staff as they work to deliver for the County’s residents. Council is typically steered through the process of developing the strategic plan by an experienced consultant but the 2 County strategic plans I have been involved with were the product of significant and diverse input from (and debate within) Council, senior County staff and, importantly, input from a variety of stakeholders in the County including the general public. Council fully embraced its authority to set high level strategic direction for the County.

Some candidates for elected office, whether for Mayor or Councillor, position themselves as leaders who advocate for change – in efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery and/or in priorities for investment in our community; others advocate for building on the status quo. Advocacy and differences of opinion are entirely legitimate and should be welcomed as part of our democratic election process – but voters should understand change cannot be promised in our system of municipal government by any one individual when they have but one vote out of eleven around the Council table. Change will follow a process of identification of need, proposals, analysis, debate and decision by Council.

The introduction of Strong Mayor’s Powers has the potential to shift the decision making dynamics of Council on some issues e.g. budget, appointment/dismissal of senior staff and appointments to key committees. Electors need to understand the potential for misuse of those powers. Our current Mayor declined to employ strong mayor’s powers. He has led this and the previous Council in a very collaborative way using the collective experience and skills of his entire Council, leveraging a great staff team and staff leadership that the County is fortunate to have, and taking account where possible of public input. The formulation of the 2026 budget is a good example of his collaborative leadership style. Our next Mayor may or may not seek to have a more directive approach.

As we move towards the municipal election I ask voters to consider what kind of leadership they want and challenge each candidate for office, whether Mayor or Councillor, to share their thinking, position and underpinning support for their;

• understanding of the needs and wants (and the difference between the two) of our County and/or Ward
• views on Strong Mayor Powers
• confidence and trust in municipal government
• understanding of municipal finances and the current financial position of the County
• understanding of the efficiency and effectiveness of mandatory service delivery, and
• priorities for discretionary spending.

If you want to know my thinking I will refer you to my website johnbellward3.com. Feel free to challenge my thinking and positions.