Meaford council held a training session with representatives from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs Wednesday (April 23).

The training session is a special council meeting and it open to the public. Council is encouraging members of the public to attend to hear the details of the governance structure training sessions.

"It's really Governance 101. It's about what a council is supposed to do and what it's not supposed do," explained Mayor Francis Richardson. "They wanted a meeting that is open so the public can learn about governance as well," said the Mayor.

Ministry staff will travel from the London office to Meaford for the meeting. The senior management of the municipality will also be present for the training session.

"This is very important for our new council," said Richardson.

The Mayor explained that after every municipal election the Ministry offers similar training courses for newly election representatives. The training sessions are presented in various modules.

Richardson said he completed two modules as a councillor and the third module early in his term as Deputy Mayor.

Richardson said at Wednesday's session members of Meaford council will have the Ministry staff all to themselves for questions, comments and more focused training.

"Some of our councillors will have heard this before, but not with the Ministry people sitting right there talking to us directly," he said.

Councillors Lynda Stephens said she is pleased about holding the training session.

"I'm looking forward to it. It's good for all of us to be on the same page," said Stephens. "That's really important. This is going to help us determine what direction we want to go in and what our values are," said Stephens.

Councillor Stephens also said the training will make it clear who is supposed to do what in a municipal organization.

"This is going to help us understand what our roles are and what staff's roles are," said Stephens.

"It's going to make it easier for us to come up with a procedure or process for how we do things. At the end we all should have a better understanding of how we're supposed to do things," she said.