Iqaluit council forms committee to remedy “weak leadership”

MICHAELA RODRIGUE
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — Iqaluit Town Council has formed a new executive committee to remedy what one councillor calls “weak leadership” in its senior administration.

“There’s a lack of good, strong administrative leadership at the Town right now,” said Coun. Matthew Spence.

“It’s positioning the council to be set, if we continue to have weak leadership at our senior administrative level, we would become more actively involved in managing the affairs of the administration,” he said.

Spence presented a motion this week to create a new executive committee made up of the mayor, the chairs of two town committees, and Coun. Lynda Gunn.

The new committee’s role and how it will work is still unclear, but Spence said the committee will strengthen the mayor’s role as a go-between for the administration and councillors. And he envisions committee members meeting with the Town’s directors once a week.

Typically, Iqaluit administrative officer John Raycroft relays staff concerns to council. But Raycroft is frequently out of town, and Spence said there’s a lack of communication between the Town’s directors and senior administration.

To fix that he wants to meet with town directors directly at weekly management meetings.

Spence wants the committee to be an interim measure until a solution to the “weak leadership” can be found. Spence would not speculate on how the problem will be solved.

“It’s going to be tough and it’s not something that I want to do long-term. What I want to do is solve our administrative problems, and then go back to having a strong leadership from our SAO,” Spence said.

Raycroft, who was out of town early this week, was scheduled to return to work after Nunatsiaq News press-time. Spence said he hoped to meet with him then.

Spence’s motion carried despite concerns raised by town staff at the meeting.

Ookalik Curley, the deputy senior administrative officer, asked the council to be more specific about the committee’s job. She reminded councillors that the Town has a paid staff to perform day-to-day functions.

Paul Fraser, the acting senior administrative officer, also asked for more information about the committee’s role.

“This need for a fairly clear separation between governance and operations is fundamental to a free and democratic operation of government,” Fraser said. “It’s to ensure elected officials are not mired in such things as conflict of interest.”

Fraser said he had experience working with executive committees, but he asked council to decide when the committee will meet, what it will do, and if there will be any remuneration before making a resolution.

Spence said council has the authority to create any committee it wishes without administration’s approval.

His motion then went to a vote. The motion passed with three yeas and two abstentions.