by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
COBDEN — Whitewater Region council was provided a council remuneration report by Renfrew County’s human resources director Bruce Beakley at last Wednesday’s council meeting.
He provided 11 recommendations and considerations regarding honourariums and other benefits council members receive with hopes they would be reviewed prior to making any changes to the current council package.
Each council member receives an honourarium. The mayor’s honourarium is $17,280 while the reeve and councillors each receive $10,381. The chairs of various standing committees also receive $1,700 annually. There are also allowances for mileage to attend council meetings and council-directed meetings; each are allocated $3,000 per year in expenses related to conferences, conventions or other municipal business functions; and expenses for municipal business outside the township are reimbursed as well.
Mr. Beakley reminded council he was hired to review the remuneration with a group of volunteers from the municipality. However, since no one volunteered, he increased his price and did the work himself, with help from the chief administrative officer and deputy-chief administrative officer.
He explained to council that when it comes to its yearly increase, the bylaw has not been followed. Sometimes it’s increased by COLA (Cost of Living Allowance), sometimes by CPI (Consumer Price Index) and other times it’s just been an increase.
The current bylaw states there shall be an annual increase to the base compensation (honourarium) based on the CPI, he said.
“If you want to give a greater increase than the CPI, change the bylaw,” Mr. Beakley said.
If staff receive an increase, and that’s the increase council wants, the bylaw has to be changed to review that, he explained.
He stressed the importance of increasing the base amount each year because it’s difficult to play catch-up years later.
In explaining the difference between COLA and CPI, Mr. Beakley said the CPI changes every six weeks while COLA is a yearly change. For example, he said if groceries cost $100 this year and $110 next year, there was an increase in the COLA.
“COLA takes into consideration CPI and other things you decide,” he said.
In reviewing the mayor’s honourarium, Mr. Beakley said, “The remuneration set for the mayor’s position for 2016 is $17,429.04, $1,452.42 monthly. This is far below the compensation set for mayors of municipalities of similar size with similar services.”
He noted the mayor delegated himself to sit on the Ottawa River Power Corporation (ORPC) which provides an honourarium of $4,279. Adding the two honourariums together, Mayor Hal Johnson receives $21,708, which is still less than what similar municipalities pay their mayors, which is in the $23,000 to $25,000 range, he said.
He suggested council pass a resolution confirming it will be the mayor who is appointed to the ORPC board so that a comparative salary be maintained.
If council decides not to pass that resolution, Mr. Beakley recommends that the mayor’s remuneration be re-evaluated because the mayor’s position would then be underfunded.
Councillor Charlene Jackson noted that former mayor Jim Labow, as well as those before him, sat on the two boards related to the Ottawa River Power Corporation, and received an extra $8,000 a year while the current mayor only sits on one of the boards. A resident was appointed to the other board, therefore, the resident receives the honourarium.
“I don’t know if that was factored in as well, but I know there is another board out there that does pay for a member to sit on and the prior mayor did, and the prior mayor to him, did sit on and gained that income as well, and that was never taken into consideration,” she said.
Mr. Beakley said he was not aware of that, so when council reviews the honourariums, all boards that pay extra honourariums need to be included in the discussion and decisions.
Mr. Beakley also recommended the reeve and councillor honourariums increase to $13,000 annually as of Jan. 1, 2017.
As for the annual per diem for chairs of various standing committees, Mr. Beakley suggested it be increased from $1,700 to $1,800 annually effective Jan. 2, 2018. Those committees he was aware of are corporate services; public works, property and protection; environmental services; protective services; economic development; recreation and culture; planning; and committee of adjustment.
He noted, once again, that the bylaw is not being followed because there are council members who are sitting as chairs of two standing committees but only receiving payment for one standing committee.
In regards to outside boards and committees, he recommended that council determine, by majority vote, the councillor who will be assigned to the various boards and committees within the municipality.
Mr. Beakley recommended that council members receive payment for attending meetings outside the normally scheduled monthly committee and council meetings, as well as out of county meetings. He suggested $50 per half day, which is four hours or less or $100 for a full day meeting lasting more than four hours.
These meetings could be special meetings of council approved by the mayor; attending approved meetings for the listed boards and committees unless a per diem is already paid by another party; for each day attending approved training meetings outside of Eastern Ontario, including travel to and from the event; attending approved meetings with provincial representatives and when conducting approved recruitment of senior department heads.
The current approved meetings for boards and committees are the Renfrew County Veterinary Association; Ottawa River Energy Solutions; ORPC; Upper Ottawa Valley CPAC (Community Policing Advisory Committee); Renfrew CPAC; Pembroke and Area Airport Commission; Whitewater Bromley Community Health Centre; Whitewater Historical Society and the Whitewater Public Library Board.
The mileage rate for council members should be consistent with the federal Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), Mr. Beakley said. This is for all travel from an elected official’s home to the municipal office or designated destination for all approved meetings, which should include council, committee and board meetings. He further added that staff should be paid mileage.
The CRA rates are 54 cents per kilometre for the first 5,000 kilometres and 48 cents per kilometre after that. The current township rate is 50 cents a kilometre, he noted.
When attending conventions and conferences, the allocation of $3,000 should remain, Mr. Beakley said.
The current practice for council is that if a council member does not use the full $3,000, it remains in the budget, and if they go over, they pay the extra. He is suggesting council consider that unused training allowances be transferrable to other members of council who may require the additional funds.
Coun. Jackson noted the current amount of $3,000 would limit council members to attend only one conference a year.
“The cost of conferences, hotels, meals and mileage, and if we add the per diem rate on top of that, won’t be long until one conference adds up to the whole $3,000,” she said.
Councillor Chris Olmstead said in the last year he attended several meetings with no expenses to the township and two conferences that the township paid for, which totalled $3,300.
“I think it’s important for a new council member to get educated early, where maybe, my last two years of my term, I may not use any because I’ve been to these conferences early and got the necessary skills,” he said.
He suggested pooling the conference money so there is opportunity for a council member who wants to attend a conference or training session without having to pay for it him or herself.
Mr. Beakley said that’s why he’s recommending that money be transferrable to another council member.
“Council needs to make that decision,” he said. “A lot of local councils are implementing conference and convention lines in their expense line budgets for exactly that reason, to assist people getting up to speed relative to the issues that are faced by lots of councillors today.”
Councillor Cathy Regier said she knows of two previous council members who paid out of their own pockets to attend conferences.
“That $3,000 doesn’t cover enough, that’s for sure,” she said.
Mr. Beakley recommended a change in meal allowances. Currently council pays, within the county, $8 for breakfast, $12 for lunch and $25 for dinner while outside it’s $12, $18 and $35, respectively.
He suggested that it be changed to $45 daily maximum with receipts inside the county, while outside the county, it be $75 daily maximum with no receipts.
His final recommendation was that council should consider providing a basic extended health care and dental benefit plan for council members, which would be 100 percent employer paid.
“This would assist with retention and attraction for existing or new councillors,” he said.
Chief Administrative Officer Christine FitzSimons suggested council review the information and a discussion will take place at a later committee meeting.
Mr. Beakley agreed.
“This report is intended to generate discussion among council, in terms of pros and cons and content,” he said. “I’m certainly not before you tonight expecting, in any way, shape or form, you make a decision regarding this report, but that you bring it back at a later time in terms of having a general discussion about the components of this report, especially with your mayor being present, otherwise in terms of the things that work for your council and in terms of where you want to go and the next steps you want to take.”
