01-010_Management of Policies_20211-010
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ADMINISTRATION
Policy 1-010: Management of Policies
Approval Date: July 24, 2019
Approval Authority: SLT
Effective Date: July 24, 2019
Next Scheduled Review Year: 2025
Department: Clerk’s Office
Last reviewed: 2021
Revision Date/s:
Schedules:
POLICY STATEMENT
Town of Tillsonburg policies are either adopted by the Council of the Corporation of the
Town of Tillsonburg or the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) of the Corporation of the
Town of Tillsonburg.
Corporate policies require a structured system for continual review and revision to
ensure public values and current best practices are accurately reflected in policy.
Section 224, 227 and 229 of the Municipal Act, 2001, as amended, outline the role of
Council, the Chief Administrative Officer, and municipal administration in the
development and approval of policies.
The level of approval required for a policy is dictated by the subject matter. Council
approval will be sought when matters relate to:
a) a legislative requirement that a “municipality” shall have a policy;
b) a significant risk of liability to the Town;
c) a desire to articulate a Town position on a public issue;
d) a specific request from Council for the policy;
e) matters that affect the public directly and significantly;
f) major budgetary matters;
g) public accountability;
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h) strategic direction on Town programs and services; and,
i) self-governance.
Administrative Policy approved by the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and SLT will
provide guidance on matters related to:
a) implementation of Council decisions;
b) matters that do not meet the criteria of Council Policies;
c) the administrative management of the municipality; and the legislative
requirements of an “employer” or “corporation” under other legislation; e.g.,
Occupational Health & Safety.
PURPOSE:
A policy is a written statement of position, intent or direction. They establish guidelines
and a defined course or method of action to guide and determine present and future
decisions.
This policy establishes a structure for the development, approval, management,
distribution, and continual review of all Town of Tillsonburg Corporate and
Administrative Policies.
Additionally, this policy outlines the requirements for electronic presentation of
Corporate Policies as a reference and information source for council, staff and the
public.
SCOPE:
This policy applies to all Town staff in all locations and sets out the route to be followed
when developing or updating Corporate Policies and distributing them as appropriate.
This policy does not apply to departmental procedures and standard operating
procedures.
DEFINITIONS:
Corporate Policy: Written direction that is formally adopted by Council resolution or by-
law. Council is responsible to develop, implement, and monitor these policies in
consultation with staff through the policy review process.
Administrative Policy: Written direction approved by the Chief Administrative Officer
(CAO) and Senior Leadership Team (SLT) that focuses on the internal operations of the
Town as a corporation.
Departmental Procedure and Standard Operating Procedures: Defined as written
direction with respect to activities or services of a department that do not have Town
wide application. This policy does not apply to Departmental Procedure and Standard
Operating Procedures. The responsibility to develop, implement, and monitor these
procedures resides within the operating department.
IMPLEMENTATION:
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1. Responsibility
1.1 Town Council is responsible for:
1.1.1 Oversight of all corporate policy, ensuring that policies, practices
and procedures are in place to implement the decisions of Council;
1.1.2 Approval for all corporate policy and amendments to corporate
policies.
1.1.3 Review and confirmation of all corporate policies during the policy
review process.
1.2 The Chief Administrative Office (CAO) and Senior Leadership Team (SLT) is
responsible for:
1.2.1 Approval of all administrative policy and amendments to
administrative policies.
1.2.2 Providing approval for the development of corporate and
administrative policies.
1.2.3 Supporting the policy review process including providing guidance
and/or direction on issues that may arise.
1.3 Departments are responsible for:
1.3.1 Developing corporate and administrative policies in compliance with
this policy.
1.3.2 Adhering to section 4, Policy Review Process, bringing policies for
revision and approval to corresponding approval bodies of Council
and SLT according to section 5, Policy Review Schedule.
1.4 The Clerk’s Office is responsible for:
1.4.1 Providing support to various departments in the development of
policy where necessary.
1.4.2 Ensuring proper record keeping in the Town’s electronic records
management system.
1.4.3 Ensuring that the most current version of the approved policies are
available to staff.
1.4.4 Ensuring all past and current versions of the approved policies are
saved in the Town’s electronic records management system.
1.4.5 Creating accessible versions of the most current version of the
approved administrative policies and making them available to staff.
1.4.6 Creating accessible versions of the most current version of the
approved corporate policies and making them available to Council,
staff and the general public.
1.4.7 Reviewing and maintaining the policy review schedule according to
review timelines and notify policy owners/authors of the review
schedule.
1.5 Employees are responsible for:
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1.5.1 Regularly reviewing corporate and administrative policies and for
complying with all policies and procedures as approved by Council
and SLT.
2. Initiation of Policy Development
2.1 The need for a new or revised policy may be required by legislation, by
resolution of Council, or may be identified by the department most
responsible, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), the Senior Leadership
Team (SLT), or the Clerk’s Office.
2.2 Prior to developing or revising a proposed policy or amendment, the
department most responsible for the policy should determine the
requirements, constraints and expected outcomes of the policy.
3. Development and Approval of Policy
3.1 Each department is responsible for developing or revising policy according
to the guidelines of this policy framework.
3.2 The policy template available by accessing the Intranet shall be used as a
guide in the development and revision of all corporate and administrative
policies. The use of this template will ensure consistency of policy
creation/revision throughout the Corporation.
3.3 Policies shall be and remain consistent with relevant Federal/Provincial
and Municipal legislation as well as the Town’s Strategic Plan as amended
from time to time.
3.4 It is the responsibility of the policy author to determine any areas of
overlap, contradiction, or integration with other existing corporate policies.
3.5 References to related policies must be stated within the new or revised
policy.
3.6 All policy documents will contain plain, clear, concise wording, enabling a
wide range of users to understand the content. Where prescribed
terminology is used (i.e. extracted from legislation) a clear description of
the terminology should be contained in the definitions section of the policy
to allow cross-referencing and comprehension.
3.7 All Policies must be submitted for review in an accessible format compliant
with provincial accessibility standards and the Town's Accessibility Policy.
4. Policy Review Process
4.1 All policies shall be reviewed every four years (or more frequently), and in
accordance with the following:
4.1.1 External drivers, such as legislation changes, court decisions,
government policies or strategies.
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4.1.2 Internal drivers, such as Council decisions, new strategies,
identification of issues by stakeholders or staff, new practices, or
new technologies.
4.2 If there is no alternate review date which has been established and
highlighted with the policy then 4.1 above shall apply.
4.3 The Clerk’s Office will track review dates/schedules.
4.4 All policies will have a Department responsible for their review.
4.5 The review process ensures that the periodic review of all policies takes
place so that the policy is required, relevant, current and supporting the
achievement of desired objectives. The responsible Department will
ensure policies meet the current formatting and accessibility standards.
4.6 According to review schedules set out in this policy the Clerk’s Office shall
provide a listing of policies to department heads to ensure their
department reviews/revises policies according to specified timelines. Lists
shall also be available on the Staff Intranet under Policies and Procedures.
4.7 All corporate policies requiring amendments will be sent to Council for
approval.
4.8 All administrative policies will be sent to SLT for information and/or
approval even if no changes are made during the review process by the
Department.
4.9 Departments shall provide up to date referenced documents as necessary.
4.10 Should minor revisions to policies be required i.e. formatting, numbering,
typos, spelling etc., the Clerk’s Office will make these minor revisions
without reporting them to Council or SLT as long as these minor changes
do not change the content or intent of the policy itself.
5. Policy Review Schedule
Policies will be reviewed by category on a rotational basis as indicated below.
Year one
• Administrative
• Council & Bylaw
• Development and Planning
Year two
• Environmental Services
• Finance and Accounting
• Human Resources
Year three
• Legal Affairs
• Media and Public Relations
• Recreation, Heritage, Culture and Parks
Year four
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• Social and Healthcare Services
• Transportation
• Vehicles and Equipment
6. Distribution and Communication
6.1 The Clerk’s Office will ensure that accessible versions of the most current
version of the approved policies are available to Council, staff and in
addition corporate policies to the general public.
7. Records Management
7.1 The Clerk’s Office is responsible for ensuring proper record keeping.
7.2 All past and current versions of the approved policies will be saved in the
Town’s electronic records management system.
8. Policy Classification System
8.1 Policies will be organized into the following categories.
• Administrative (1-001, 1-002…)
• Council and By-Law (2-001, 2-002…)
• Development and Planning (3-001, 3-002…)
• Environmental Services (4-001, 4-002…)
• Finance and Accounting (5-001, 5-002…)
• Human Resources (6-001, 6-002…)
• Legal Affairs (7-001, 7-002…)
• Media and Public Relations (8-001, 8-002…)
• Recreation, Heritage, Culture and Parks (9-001, 9-002…)
• Social and Healthcare Services (10-001, 10-002…)
• Transportation (11-001, 11-002…)
• Vehicles and Equipment (12-001, 12-002…)
8.2 The Clerk’s Office will ensure that all policies are correctly classified and
numbered.
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9. Policy Template
POLICY CATEGORY
Policy #: Policy Title
Approval Date: Month, DD, YYYY
Approval Authority: SLT OR Council, By-Law ####
Effective Date:
Next Scheduled Review Year: 2020
Department:
Last reviewed: Month, DD, YYYY
Revision Date/s:
Schedules: A – Policy Template
Policy Statement:
This policy…
Purpose:
The purpose of this policy…
Scope:
This policy…
Definitions:
Implementation Procedure:
1. …
1.1 …
1.1.2 …
2. …
2.1 …
2.1.2 …