Preparing Incoming Council Members for Success

By Deborah Lynn Blumberg

A newly elected city council member storms out of the council room because they’re frustrated that they can’t fix the issue they ran on after just a few meetings. Resentment builds and council communication gradually falls apart. Ultimately, city policy suffers.

Often, at the root of what might appear to be a personal or political conflict on the dais is many times a lack of understanding around basic city processes, an absence of team building, and inadequate onboarding. Council members have been left unprepared.

“For people who haven’t been in public office before, the pace of change is often different if you came from an outside job, and that can be disorienting,” said Aimee Gourlay, League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust (LMCIT) collaboration services manager.

Cities often have robust onboardings for paid employees, but elected officials can fall to the wayside in that regard. To head off any unhealthy city council conflict, cities should have a solid onboarding plan for new council members that starts months before they join.

“Onboarding is an essential opportunity before you’re sitting at the microphones, and if you don’t take the time for it, processes can fall apart later on,” Gourlay said, adding that “making good relationships is the key to good policy.” A high-performing, close-knit, and collaborative team can also respond more effectively in a crisis.

Todd Prafke, city administrator of the City of St. Peter adds that, “As a resident, I expect my City Council to think and act like a great team.”

Here’s how to prepare your incoming city council members to work as a team so you can help prevent common issues.

Clarifying city culture

Even before onboarding new city council members, cities should review their policies and procedures to make sure they accurately reflect and communicate their culture.

“There may be work that needs to be done as an organization and as a team first, so that you can explain your culture to others,” said Gourlay.

The City of St. Anthony’s onboarding plan outlines in great detail its culture of shared values and the proposed purpose of its City Council. The Council is committed to governing with a servant leadership mindset that’s based on 10 core competencies, including empathy, awareness, and foresight.

This type of mindset helps to ensure the Council leads with values, adheres to its vision, and acts on decisions that will achieve equitable outcomes for community members, according to the city’s plan.

To set clear expectations from early on, administrators introduce newly elected council members to the core competencies during their onboarding. Then, current council members review the competencies annually.

How to plan a comprehensive new council member orientation

Once culture is clear, it’s time to plan a thorough orientation, Prafke said. He recommends a one- to three-hour session before the new year so that new members have time to absorb information and ask questions.

“Oftentimes, new council members have never been to a council meeting before, so we start with the nuts and bolts,” he said. This includes when and where meetings take place, how long various processes take, where members sit, and how to get an item on the meeting agenda. Current council members are invited to attend, too.

Prafke walks new members through the Council’s code of ethics and shares Chapter 6 of the League of Minnesota Cities’ Handbook for Minnesota Cities, which covers the roles of elected officials and council structure. “That’s really important for new council members to understand,” Prafke said, and it helps to clarify who’s responsible for what. He explains how voting works and voting order changes, too.

Other good topics to cover during an orientation include:

• The basic structure of the government with an introduction to department heads.
• Information about city commissions and boards.
• An overview of your city charter.
• Details on any ongoing or upcoming major city projects and plans.
• The city’s budget and financial outlook, including figures from the current budget.

Early training on best practices around group decision-making and negotiating is also a valuable part of an orientation, Prafke said, since some new members may never have served on a council or board before and will be less familiar with group dynamics.

He also encourages newly elected council members to attend the League’s conference for recently elected leaders: Elected Leaders Institute — Foundational Program. “It’s so important for them to have that bigger picture experience and to hear from someone other than me or their St. Peter peers,” he said.

To the extent that you can, make your orientation interactive, said Gourlay, rather than predominantly lecture style. “You’re not just giving people information,” she said. “I like to think of it as a two-way street.”

Some cities supplement their orientation with a thorough manual for new city council members that includes all the information they need to start their position.

Offering individual meetings and shadowing current council members

In addition to orientation, Prafke likes to set up one-on-one meetings with incoming members to answer any pressing, or lingering questions face-to-face.

“We want to create an opportunity for new members to ask whatever they want in a safe environment and in an easyto- digest way,” he said. Prafke helps to facilitate any needed follow-up meetings for new members with other city officials, too.

Another key to success, Prafke said, is for new members to attend city council meetings well before they assume their role. The very public nature of St. Peter Council meetings and active participation from community members can sometimes come as a surprise to people who haven’t been at a meeting before, he adds.

Prafke invites incoming council members to attend St. Peter’s annual public goals-setting session, which is held between the election and the new year. Soon-to-be council members sit beside current members at a table during the discussion.

“They learn how things work from their peers,” he said. “The session is core to new members’ learning, and it shows them how to move from the brainstorming to the development to the action stage.”

At goal setting sessions, the city provides food for both council members and visitors, a perk that’s not to be overlooked. “When they sit and eat and talk to each other, they get to know each other, which is not unimportant in this process,” Prafke said.

Incoming members also attend council workshops and regular, business council meetings before coming on board. Many attend five or six meetings as observers. “And I can’t emphasize enough that new members seeing how current members work together in all of these settings really ends up helping them,” Prafke said.

Field trips and bossy bag questions

Helping new council members ease into the position needs to continue into the first several city council meetings — and even beyond, said Prafke.

As meeting facilitator, Prafke makes sure council members understand from the start that not all conversations and meetings will be easy. In fact, many will be hard. “Dust-ups,” or passionate civil discussions about an issue are OK, in fact they’re encouraged. But they don’t include name calling, stepping on toes, or unnecessary drama.

“It comes from the place of, we’re thinking about the community, not about what our position is,” Prafke said. “And nothing’s left up in the air. We come up with next steps.”

Prafke also organizes get togethers outside of City Hall. It’s a critical component to building camaraderie and teamwork that “keeps the grass green.” This might include field trips to a playground under construction or wastewater plant that’s being built.

At St. Peter’s goal setting sessions, Prafke also encourages discussions about what members see as their legacy and the state of council relationships. He has a list of 20 questions he brings to each meeting to use in a game called “bossy bag.” Each council member draws a question from the bag and answers it during the meeting.

Questions include:

• What is your number one motivation for being on the council?
• What expectations do you have of yourself as a council member?
• What is your least favorite aspect of being on the council and why?
• What is the biggest challenge the community faces? What makes you think that?
• What can members do to help each other be the best council you can collectively be?

“Council members are not afraid to share, and it does get easier,” Prafke said.

Overall, after the election and ahead of January, Prafke and Gourlay recommend frequent and transparent communication before new council members come on board.

“A lot of time in cities that are well-functioning, some of their processes and procedures that are working well aren’t necessarily written down,” Gourlay said, “so you really do need to make things explicit for people.”

Deborah Lynn Blumberg is a freelance writer.