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How a council actually works

Who sits on a council, what the mayor can and cannot do, and why some meetings happen behind closed doors.

Most people meet their town council only when something goes wrong: a tax bill, a closed road, a fight over a new building. This first lesson is the map. It shows who does what, so that every later lesson about money makes sense. It is free, so you can see what the rest of the series is like.

What a council is

A council is a group of elected people who run a town or city on behalf of the people who live there. The Province’s guide for new councillors says an Ontario council has at least five members, and one of them is the head of council. The head of council is usually called the mayor, though some places say reeve, warden or chair.

The law says what a council is for. Section 224 of the Municipal Act, 2001 lists its role. In plain words, a council:

  • represents the public and thinks about the well-being of the town;
  • decides which services the town provides, and develops and checks its policies and programs;
  • makes sure the town has the right procedures to carry out its decisions;
  • makes sure the town’s work is accountable and open to the public, including what senior managers do; and
  • looks after the town’s financial health.

Running the garbage trucks and fixing potholes are not on that list. Council decides what the town will do. Other people do it.

What the mayor does

Section 225 of the Act says the mayor acts as the chief executive officer of the municipality, leads council, speaks for the town at official events, and chairs council meetings so that business gets done.

The Province’s guide adds the point that surprises many people: decisions are generally made by council as a whole, and each member, including the mayor, has one vote. A mayor on an ordinary council cannot pass a rule alone.

Strong-mayor powers

Some places are different. Part VI.1 of the Municipal Act gives extra powers to the head of council in municipalities that the Province designates by regulation. The Province’s guide calls these “strong mayor powers”. Whether your town has them depends on the Province’s list, not on what your town prefers, so check the current list.

In a designated municipality, the head of council can:

  • appoint the chief administrative officer (the top staff member), and hire or dismiss the heads of departments, except for certain officers such as the clerk, the treasurer, an Integrity Commissioner, an Ombudsman and an Auditor General;
  • create committees of council, say what they do and appoint their chairs;
  • prepare and propose the yearly budget by February 1, which council may then amend within a set review period (the budget lesson explains this); and
  • veto some by-laws, which council can override only if two-thirds of its members vote to do so.

There is a limit on the veto. The Act says the head of council may use it only if they believe a by-law could interfere with a “prescribed provincial priority”. The Province’s regulation lists those priorities as building 1.5 million new homes by December 31, 2031, and building and maintaining the infrastructure that supports housing: transit, roads, utilities and servicing. The head of council can also propose certain by-laws that advance those priorities, and they pass if more than one-third of council votes for them.

One safeguard to know about: when a head of council uses these powers, they must do it in writing, and the written record has to go to council members and the clerk by the next business day and be made available to the public, subject to the freedom-of-information law. That means a strong-mayor decision should leave a paper trail you can ask for.

Committees

Councils split their work into committees, because a full council cannot study every detail. Common ones cover planning, parks and recreation, public works and finance. Some councils use a “committee of the whole”, where every councillor sits on one big committee. Committees study an issue, hear from the public, and send a recommendation back to the full council, which then votes.

A committee of council is often subject to the same open-meeting rules as council itself. Under section 238, that includes any committee where at least half the members are also members of a council or local board.

Who the staff are

Staff are not elected, and this series names only elected officials. Section 227 of the Act says the role of the municipality’s officers and employees is to carry out council’s decisions, to research and advise council on policies and programs, and to do the other duties the law gives them.

Three roles are worth knowing:

  • The clerk keeps the official record. Under section 228, the clerk records all resolutions, decisions and other proceedings of council, and keeps the by-laws and minutes. If you want to know what council decided, the clerk’s office is where the record lives.
  • The treasurer looks after the money and signs off on financial reports. You will meet this role again in the budget and audit lessons.
  • The chief administrative officer (CAO) is optional. Section 229 says a municipality may appoint one, who is responsible for the general control and management of the town’s affairs. The idea is to separate policy (council) from carrying it out (staff).

Closed sessions: when the doors close

Section 239 says that all meetings must be open to the public, except as the section allows. A council may close a meeting, or part of one, only if the subject is on a short list. The list in section 239(2) covers:

  • the security of the town’s property;
  • personal matters about an identifiable person, including employees;
  • buying or selling land;
  • labour relations or employee negotiations;
  • lawsuits, or ones that might happen;
  • legal advice protected by solicitor-client privilege;
  • certain information given in confidence by another government, or by a business, and certain information that belongs to the town and has money value; and
  • the town’s plan or instructions for negotiations.

Two more cases must be closed: a freedom-of-information request that council itself decides, and an ongoing investigation by the Ombudsman or the town’s closed-meeting investigator. Training sessions may also be closed if nothing is decided.

The rules around the closing matter as much as the reasons:

  1. Before it closes the doors, council has to pass a resolution, in public, stating that a closed meeting will happen and the general nature of what it will discuss.
  2. A meeting cannot be closed while council votes, with one exception: a closed vote is allowed if it is a procedural matter, or if it gives directions or instructions to staff or others working for the town.
  3. The clerk must record all resolutions, decisions and other proceedings, whether the meeting is open or closed.
  4. Anyone can ask for an investigation of whether a closed meeting followed the rules. Lesson 8 explains how.

The Ontario Ombudsman says there is no requirement in the Act for councils to report back in public after a closed meeting, but recommends doing it for transparency.

In real life: Belleville’s council holds closed sessions often. Council Books counted the minutes of the 33 regular council meetings from February 24, 2025 to September 28, 2026 that it could read, and found that 26 of 33 included a closed session (our count from the minutes). Belleville’s minutes list each closed item by report number with the legal reason. What residents cannot see in the open minutes is what was decided. A city of 55,000 people may truly have many land, labour and legal matters that must stay private, and land and contract decisions often become public later as a by-law or a report. Read the whole question, including what you could ask, at /ca/on/belleville/questions/#closed-sessions. The town’s page is /ca/on/belleville/.

Try it on your town

  1. Find your council’s page and count the members. Who is the head of council, and does your town appear on the Province’s list of strong-mayor municipalities?
  2. Open the minutes of the last three regular council meetings. Did each include a closed session? Does the open record give the reason for closing, and does it say anything afterwards?
  3. Find the committees. Which ones are open to the public, and where are their agendas posted?

Questions you could ask

  • After a closed session, will council report back in public, in general terms, when the matter allows, for example when a land sale closes?
  • Which committees did council create or change this term, and who decided?
  • If the head of council has strong-mayor powers, where are the written records of how they were used posted?

Sources