Outgoing city councillor Paul Harris wants future councillors to be able to access administrative support.
Harris, who is not running for a third term in the October municipal election, put forward a notice of motion that will be discussed at council’s regular meeting on Oct. 2 calling for administration to explore what support councillors in other municipalities receive and to bring back a report to council in 2018.
The motion details that individual councillors do not have support to assist them in fulfilling their election mandates such as exploring effective, new or current practices; engaging and advocating more effectively with constituents and their issues; and research to support or challenge constituents opinions.
Harris said council as a whole has support so when council makes a decision administration acts on it. But if an individual councillor wants something done it’s not allowed.
“In other municipalities there is a city manager and there are also employees of council. Sometimes it’s individual councillors who have staff who do research for them and can respond to citizens. We don’t have any such support here,” Harris said.
“As the third largest city it’s time that councillors have support as well because I think we could do so much more for our community.”