By TERRY PUGH
With Martensville City Councillors slated to rotate through the Deputy Mayor position every two months, the city is updating its signing authority to ensure routine financial transactions can continue smoothly.
Martensville City Council passed a resolution at its February 18 meeting to add all city councillors to the list of authorized signatories. The signing authority for each councillor would only come into effect for the period during which they occupy the position of Deputy Mayor.
The change is aimed at overcoming the problem of having to update the signing authorities every two months.
Shortly after the last municipal election, Martensville City Council agreed to a change in the Deputy Mayor’s position. Until recently, that role was filled by one councillor, who was appointed annually by council. Most recently, former Councillor Jamie Martens served as Deputy Mayor, and before that former Councillor Tyson Chillog was in the position.
Last fall, however, Martensville council opted to have all councillors take on the position for a two-month term, after which a different councillor would step in. The objective was to share the responsibility of the position, provide all councillors with the experience and help each councillor, the majority of whom are new to their positions, develop essential leadership skills.
The change to the Deputy Mayor’s position required that the city’s signing authority policy be updated, according to a report presented to the February 18 Martensville City Council meeting.
“At present, the City of Martensville has four signing authorities and any two of these individuals have the authority to sign official documents, agreements, and financial transactions on behalf of the municipality,” stated the administration report. “The current signing authorities are (Martensville Mayor) Kent Muench, previous Councillor Tyson Chillog, (Martensville City Manager) Tanya Garost, and (Martensville Director of Corporate Services) Leah Bloomquist. With the proposed amendment to rotate the position of Deputy Mayor amongst the Councillors over this next term of office, Administration would like to recommend formally updating the signing authority for the City of Martensville, effective February 18, and that any two of the following individuals will be authorized to sign official documents, agreements and financial transactions on behalf of the municipality.”
The list includes three individuals already authorized as signing authorities: Garost, Bloomquist, and Muench. It adds councillors Brad Blixt, Katharine Carter, Tracy Cocks, Darren MacDonald, Krista McCann, and Spencer Nikkel.
Adding all city councillors will ensure that the city administration has options to contact and access an authorized signor in the event that the City Manager and Manager of Corporate Services are not available. It also overcomes the problem of having to update the signing authority on each rotation of the Deputy Mayor.
During discussion of this change at a City Council Committee of the Whole meeting on February 11, some councillors expressed concern that there needed to be checks and balances in place to ensure there was no potential for improper expenditures. The administration reassured councillors those checks and balances are part of the current system.