Sunday, November 28, 2010

Entrench the Education of Elected Officials: AUMA Request to Councils

The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) is asking councils across the province to consider a motion to entrench a commitment to enable mayors and councillors to make use of the Elected Officials Education Program (EOEP).

Here is part of the preamble:
The Elected Officials Education Program (EOEP) began offering education on roles and responsibilities of elected officials in Alberta in 2008. The EOEP was developed to provide municipally elected officials with an opportunity to broaden their knowledge and skills and helps raise the quality of municipal government ... To raise awareness of the program and provide some consistency across the province, the EOEP asks for your support in presenting the following motion to council in support of elected official education: "that the Council approve Administration bringing forward a report on the educational opportunities available through the EOEP, and that consideration be given during budget discussions to allocating monies to training and education of municipal elected officials throughout the 3-year term of the Council."

Although the motion does not require Council members to take the courses (and until they are available via videoconference, it is difficult for Northerners to take them), passing this motion could at least serve to recognize the value of having council members make a commitment to learning about their very great responsibilities and being as effective as possible in this role.

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