Start of new Council term and handover

With the start of a new term of Council, perhaps this is an opportune time to talk about how that whole thing happens…

The election process itself begins 18 months in advance of the end of the term. Council strikes a committee to handle this job, and their first task is to review the membership numbers to confirm the distribution of seats across the various regions.

Next, the election committee gets the mechanics of the election in hand, including choosing a voting provider and an independent auditor to ensure the integrity of the process. All major voting paperwork is reviewed and revised as well.

A couple of months in advance of nominations, the logistics aspect of the vote is handed off to staff, since it will need ever-increasing daily attention through to the end. The committee does, however, continue to monitor the process regularly through to the completion of the vote, and if there are any issues needing our immediate attention, we convene to decide them.

Most of the rest you know about. Nominations open, are solicited throughout the membership, and close. Candidate lists are generated and circulated, ballots are sent out, and the actual voting is conducted.

During this time, the committee's attention shifts to compiling the orientation package for the incoming Council. Aside from basic informational stuff, there will also be a number of agenda items that need to carry over, and Councillor training has to be arranged. Although the last bits of the package will not be finalised until the outgoing Council has met for the final time, most of the material is complete even before the results are in, so that it can be sent out as soon as possible.

In the same period, the committee starts drafting its final report, along with any recommendations for future process improvements, or rule changes. This report will be presented to the new Council at its first meeting. Following that, the committee is dissolved and the committee members breathe a sigh of relief!

It's not all about the committee, though…

At the end of each term, Council prioritises completion of any major initiatives that are in the works. Rather than hand over something 95% complete that would require significant recap and review time in order to bring the new Council up to speed, and to facilitate staff planning for any upcoming changes, Council tries to hand over as clean a slate as possible. Consequently, the last few meetings are jam-packed with major decisions to be made.

Of course, there are always future issues to which Council has committed for the upcoming year, but it's best if a new Council can take them on from square one instead of half-way through – we rarely start anything new at that late point in the term.

The outgoing Council has its final meeting in late October, and continues to serve up until the day the incoming Council first meets. I'll talk more about that in a future post.