To our members and extended AMCTO community,
It’s amazing how quickly the year has passed! As we wrap up 2025, we’re reflecting on a remarkable year for the Association — made possible thanks to your continued support and active involvement.
This year, we were proud to partner with Mitacs to begin the implementation of the Municipal Innovation Internship Program (MIIP), a new internship program for Ontario post-secondary students and municipalities. The program has been renewed for the upcoming year, and the first cohort of interns will start their placements in January. We were also pleased to launch our Virtual Town Halls in November as another vehicle for members to connect, network, and discuss shared experiences, which we plan to continue in 2026. And as you are likely aware, next year will be a busy time across the municipal sector with the municipal elections taking place in the fall - we are proud to support members through this process with the AMCTO Municipal Elections Training Program which opened earlier this year, and has seen hundreds of municipal staff accessing the training videos, resource documents, and connecting in live Q&A sessions.
To provide further value and support to members, we launched the AMCTO Leadership Hub as a collection of leadership resources and services, with several affinity partners taking part to offer their leadership services at a discount to AMCTO members. On the topic of affinity partners, we were also proud to announce a partnership with Park'N Fly to provide preferred rates on airport parking to our members at select Canadian airports.
On the policy and government relations side, we continued to advocate for municipal staff leading up to the provincial election back in February with a call-to-action outlining our priorities for the next government's mandate. With the expansion of strong mayor powers in the spring, we furthered our supports for those impacted by the changes while also continuing our research into the trends and experiences of strong mayor municipalities. This past year also saw the launch of our own research on incivility and harassment in the sector, the results of which informed our submissions to the province regarding Bill 9, Municipal Accountability Act, and will be the basis for our future advocacy to the province to put legislation in place towards making meaningful change.
Behind the scenes, our staff were hard at work streamlining and enhancing the application process for pursuing an AMCTO accreditation, making it easier for members to work towards and maintain their professional designations. We also expanded opportunities for members to become involved in the Association with our reworked committee structure.
As we head into 2026, we are also entering the final year of the Association's current Strategic Plan. In 2025, we began the process of working towards the development of the next iteration of our Strategic Plan to take effect in 2027. We look forward to engaging with members in the new year to help guide this work, which will also include the discovery phase of a potential rebranding for the Association.
As we prepare for an exciting 2026, we’re grateful for your dedication and the impact you make across Ontario’s communities. On behalf of the AMCTO Board of Directors and staff, I want to wish you a safe, bright, and joy-filled holiday season from all of us at AMCTO!
Please note our office will be closed for the holidays as of noon on Wednesday, December 24, and will re-open on Friday, January 2, 2025.
Sincerely,
Danielle Manton, AOMC, Dipl.M.M.
President, AMCTO
General Manager, Corporate Services, City of Cambridge