Free training now available for P.E.I.'s municipal CAOs

Chief administrative officers for municipalities across P.E.I. now have access to a series of free virtual training sessions to help them in their jobs.

The funding for the sessions comes from the Safe Restart Agreement, a federal and provincial program to keep economies moving during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is being managed by the Federation of P.E.I. Municipalities.

"Any time anybody is available to receive extra knowledge, I think it's going to do all the municipalities well," said Bruce MacDougall, president of the federation and also a Summerside city councillor.

Every municipality on P.E.I. is required to appoint a CAO, who runs the day-to-day operations of the municipality.

"There's a lot of municipalities in the province and there's a lot of smaller ones that have the CAOs that require upgrading. And we just figured that this was a great program," said MacDougall.

The sessions will cover everything from financial management and land-use planning to responsibilities of administration and council.

"Our goal with these training sessions is to ensure that all of our CAOs have access to the training they want and need to carry out their important work in supporting council and helping to meet the needs of the people in their respective municipality," Jamie Fox, P.E.I. minister of fisheries and communities, said in a provincial news release.

Lots of interest in free sessions

MacDougall said that so far, all of the municipal CAOs across the province have been "very interested" in the training, and that 20-25 of them are taking part in a virtual session today.

"I think it's a good thing for the municipalities and there's a good uptake on it. So I guess they think the same thing," he said.

More from CBC P.E.I.