The Local Government Leadership Academy is meeting in Kimberley this week for a conference to help out local government officials, specifically newly elected ones.
LGLA President Laurey-Anne Roodenburg said it gives newly elected officials a crash course on municipal politics.
“You have lots of learning that goes on but it’s the opportunity to sit down at a table with somebody from a community that you don’t know to talk and figure out what’s going on,” she said.
“It’s a great opportunity for especially newly elected people to really find out who their peeps are in the area.”
Kimberley mayor Don McCormick said it can be a big learning curve for people new to the government.
“I think for a lot of the newbies this will be a big reality check,” he said.
“When we first run we all think that we have much more power to do what it is we wish to do. In reality, it’s much more of a governance organization. We set priorities but it’s really up to the staff to make things hum.”
Roodenburg said these events are held after each municipal election in different areas of the province with Kimberley getting to host for our region.
“What we’re doing is travelling across the province and we’re doing basically a government one on one with all of our elected officials, returning and newly elected officials.”
The event kicked off today and will wrap up on Friday.