NEWS: Halton Compass February 24, 2011

New Milton elected officials recently attended the Association representing Municipal Councils in Ontario training seminar to tighten up on their skills.

The program, set up as an educational seminar, is open to all Ontario councillors after an election.  To fulfil their roles and to strengthen their knowledge about municipal government operations, four local councillors Zeeshan Hamid (Ward 8), Mike Cluett (Ward 6) Rick Di Lorenzo (Ward 7) and Sharon Barkley (Ward 1) attended the two day program.

While Cluett, Hamid & Barkley attended the two day training course in Toronto, Di Lorenzo took an earlier course in Kingston that was offered in January.  “I wanted to have training as early as possible”, Di Lorenzo told the Compass, saying he felt he could benefit early on from the course offered.

“They talked about rules of order, the proper way to put motions towards council and how to handle conflicts of interest.” Di Lorenzo said.  “They go through any questions you might have, the rules and responsibilities, everything on how to be a councillor.”

This month, Cluett, Hamid & Barkley attended the training session in Toronto.  Even though Cluett is no stranger to the world of politics having worked on dozens of federal and provincial campaigns, he commented that the course was eye-opening.

“You know when you are taking a training course and you have one of those “a-ha” moments?   It was like that.  A lot of those a-ha moments were knowing the process and how to understand when people give you a call  and say they have a problem with an issue.”

After the election Cluett commented on how Milton Town Staff assisted in developing their skill set.

“The training we got with the town staff and the course will give us a better understanding how we direct and get answers from Town Staff and get those answers back to the people.”

The program is designed to give elected officials the tools they need to enhance their roles. 

“People like myself who want to do something for the community, want to get involved end up (getting elected and being) here find themselves saying ‘Now what?’,” Hamid said.

“This is supposed to answer the now-what question.  Its how to do it.  Most of us know what we want, but this is to help us do it.

- Ann Kornuta, Halton Compass.