So, I think people look at election day as a finish line, but really for us it's a starting point. >> of inauguration will really be a formal council meeting. It'll be held here at the Audi Recreation Center November 16th and it will also be live-streamed so you can watch from home or you can come and attend in person as [music] well. >> Welcome to TOA Talks. I'm your host Devin Jarvis, manager of communications and engagement for the town of Ajax. The votes have been cast, the results are in and a new council has been elected. But what happens next? In this episode, I'm joined by Sam, our supervisor of government and council relations, and Jacqueline, [music] our municipal clerk, to talk about the swearing-in process, council orientation, setting priorities [music] for the years ahead and how residents can stay informed and involved every step of the way. Thank you Sam and Jacqueline for joining us for this last episode of the season of TOA Talks. Um so, for our listeners, this episode's going to be a little bit different. All the previous episodes we've been talking about things leading up to the election, what residents need to know about the election and this one is beyond election day, what happens afterwards and I guess really for the next 4 years until the next election. So, with that, I want to stay on that train of thought and Sam or Jacqueline, either of you, what happens immediately after a municipal election is over and results are official? >> Yeah, so I think people look at election day as a finish line, but really for us it's a starting point of a lot of things that need to happen. There's obviously the regular onboarding that you would do with any job. Our IT and finance departments are going to reach out to all of council and anybody who's new making sure that we've got their paperwork in order, making sure we've got email addresses for them. Um we'll be reaching out with them with all of that information to welcome them to the town of Ajax team. Um but I think it's also important to note that you'll still see your current members of council for a little while um, until inauguration day, until that swearing in, they're still your representatives on council. And while there aren't any major decisions that are going to happen in that period of time, you'll probably still see some of your counselors, um, who might be retiring, uh, at community events and things like that. Perfect. Um, and seeing >> Um, that answer actually goes directly into my next question, which is what does council inauguration involve? >> Well, I'll turn to Jacqueline first because she really runs the show as clerk from a meeting perspective. >> Yeah, so the beginning of inauguration will really be, uh, a formal council meeting. Um, it'll be held here at the, uh, Olde Town Recreation Center uh, November 16th. Um, and that will be a time where we see our new members of council come, they can do their official swearing in. Uh, we'll have a lot of our community leaders here to sort of guide them and lead them into their next term of council. Um, and then throughout that meeting, they'll also be able to speak to their residents and sort of provide some, um, information and some of their platform and what they, uh, expect over the next four years. >> And it's a regular council meeting, but I think the tone is also a little bit more celebratory. It's, um, kind of showcasing that accomplishment of of what this this race has been leading up to election day. Uh, and so getting to to hear from your council member, they'll have an opportunity, like Jacqueline said, to speak about what their hopes are for the term. So it'll be a a good opportunity for people to get to know who's going to be representing them. >> All right, perfect. And with that, it sounds like it'll be very interesting night. So are residents able to attend if they want? >> Yeah, absolutely. It's a meeting of council, so the agenda, uh, will be published on the town's website as with all of our other council agendas, uh, and it will also be live streamed, so you can, uh, watch from home or you can come and attend in person as well. >> All right, perfect. And I'm actually going to plug this really quickly. Uh, so the live stream will be on our Town of Ajax YouTube channel, um, for everybody listening. And I believe also at ajax.ca/live. Um, so if you want to hit subscribe and follow us on there, that's also where our podcast lives. So I highly recommend that you all do. Uh, after that shameless plug, uh, once council is sworn in, what does the orientation process look like for new and returning members? >> You mentioned new and returning members. We are expecting, uh, well, absolutely we'll have new faces. We have three retiring members of council that are not seeking re-election. So it's going to be a lot of information to share with these new folks. And it's always good to, uh, do refresher with our, uh, any members of council that might be returning in the next term. Um, we've got a really fullsome plan, uh, for the fall. So shortly after inauguration, uh, end of November, early December, we've got a few days of orientation. And that's going to include things like meeting all of the directors with the town, um, finding out some of our processes from, you know, plowing the snow to what happens if the lighting is out and you have constituent inquiries about that to, uh, town finances. We're also going to be doing a bus tour. >> Yes. And we'll ensure that that agenda includes lots of presentations from staff, including really important governance things like the code of conduct and your procedure by-law, so that they can, uh, have the basic, uh, knowledge that they need to ensure that they're making decisions throughout the next four years as well. Um, but yeah, the orientation is sort of a lot of fun. I love that Ajax does, um, all of it in-house with our subject matter experts that are on staff. Staff are going to be there over the next four years to support all of these individuals who are elected to council. And it's a really great opportunity to, uh, allow them to hear from us right from the get-go. and then continue those relationships over the next couple years. >> And okay, so speaking of the next 4 years, how does council go about setting the strategic priorities for the term? >> So our planning from a staff perspective is already starting on that next strategic plan, but in the new year our members of council, members of staff, and the community can expect to hear from the town asking for their input on on what those priorities should be and what that's going to look like. We're actually just wrapping up our last strategic plan Action 26, which was for our 2022 to 2026 term. If you look at the September agenda, you'll see that wrap-up report and it's just a nice opportunity to look and reflect on what we've accomplished over the last 4 years, which is quite a lot, and so exciting to know that we'll be pivoting into our next 4 years with some of that planning. >> How can residents stay informed and involved in local government between elections? >> Yeah, I think there's a lot of opportunities for everybody to stay involved over the course of a term. The main one is obviously our committee and council meetings, so those agendas are posted at ajax.ca/meetings. We constantly have new agendas there with minutes including the live streams, also on YouTube. >> [snorts] >> So lots of opportunities for residents to stay engaged with the decisions that council's being asked to make and the decisions that they ultimately will make at those meetings. On top of that, there's lots of opportunities for civic engagement, civic participation through surveys, through open houses, um lots of different avenues for people to get involved throughout the term as well. So we always recommend to start to stay tuned and and watch for those opportunities. >> Even just attending your ward meetings with your local councilor might be a better opportunity to sit down. You can ask questions of your councilor. You can get updates from them on some of the things that are happening. They're held at least quarterly. Some folks choose to do it more frequently, but it's a a opportunity to find out what's happening in the town. Uh and I I know your team is so great, Devin, uh through social media and through events, um at connecting people. So, I would actually defer to you uh on some of the ways that people can connect. >> Yeah, absolutely. Um I think there's so many ways that residents, community groups, businesses can stay involved consistently at the town outside of the election period. So, I absolutely recommend, like you said, Sam, that residents come out to things like our Town of Ajax hosted or partnered events. Um if, you know, if we have any initiatives going on, participating through, let's say, surveys, providing comments, um attending public open houses uh upon those initiatives um are very recommended ways. And I kind of want to talk about the different communication channels that residents can learn about where to find out about these events or initiatives that are happening. So, of course, our primary digital front door is ajax.ca. Um through there, the town's website really hosts all things Ajax. Um we try to have it um as up-to-date as possible so that resi- residents aren't trying to shift through um outdated information. So, um there's a town events calendar at ajax.ca/events, and that's you'll find a mix in there of community events, um Town of Ajax signature events, like things like Pumpkinville, since we're in October, are coming up, the Santa Claus parade, details like that are in there. Um we also have our dedicated engagement platform, which is, IMO, in my opinion, Hub, and that's a really excellent tool for residents to be able to have some interactive online engagement with us. Where perhaps they're providing comments on specific projects, uh maybe they're filling out surveys, maybe they're seeing on there which staff members are leading a particular initiative and how they can contact that staff member to learn more. Uh Um and then of course we also have our very active social media channels. Um so the town is active on Facebook, Twitter, sorry X, um and Instagram. Uh you can follow us on all three. Um we do post to our social media channels 365 days a year multiple times a day and um we have really found in the most recent years here that our engagement on those are really increasing. More subscribers or followers are coming on and it's a really great way to see also what may be some of your neighbors are saying about our initiatives. Um so I definitely recommend taking a follow of those and those will also help point you to things like ajax.ca or IMO or how you can share your feedback and be involved. So I actually think that was the end of our question list for today. So thank you so much Sam and Jacqueline for coming out and joining me. I think this was definitely an interesting podcast as we do hear so much about the lead up to the election and we don't always hear about the immediate aftermath. So I really appreciate you taking the time to come out and talk to us about that process. Thank you for joining us for this last episode of TOA Talks. For election updates and voter information, please visit ajax.ca/vote.