COBDEN — Township of Whitewater Region Councillors Daryl McLaughlin and Charlene Jackson and Chief Administrative Officer Christine Fitzsimons will prepare a letter to be sent to Renfrew County’s human resources manager Bruce Beakley outlining the parameters of what he will do if hired by the township to review council remuneration.
A discussion ensued at last week’s corporate services meeting regarding passing a motion for council to approve the hiring of Mr. Beakley to review council remuneration and provide recommendations for council’s consideration at a fee of $1,000.
“Is there a reason we need Bruce to do this for $1,000,” questioned Reeve Terry Millar. “I want you to sell me on it. We already got a 2.5 per cent increase.”
Coun. Jackson said this is a different issue. This review will determine where council sits in comparison to other municipalities and if what they’re receiving is fair compensation.
“Is the remuneration appropriate? Is it not? What is the recommendation? And this would be a public engagement model, where there would be people from the public reviewing it,” she said.
Renfrew County went through this and individuals from throughout the county also sat on the committee, she noted. She said a review should occur about every five years.
Councillor Chris Olmstead said this review should be set aside for a year.
“I personally feel that it’s too early in the term of this council to proceed with looking at any increase beyond a nominal two per cent,” he said. “Look at it after a full year.”
Reeve Millar noted it was eight years ago when the remuneration was last done…what was the result at that time, he questioned.
Coun. McLaughlin said previously, Mr. Beakley reviewed council’s remuneration because council members were paid an honourarium and then paid for each meeting they attended, whether it was a council meeting or a board/committee they were appointed to sit on.
However, the remuneration between council members was too large a gap because of how many committees a councillor sat on or even how many conferences he or she attended, he explained.
Coun. McLaughlin said the problem now, as he sees it, is that currently some council members attend 14 extra meetings, some 12 and some even none, but all are receiving the same pay.
“This is not picking on any councillor around this table,” he said. “I just don’t think it’s fair.”
Instead of the same council members sitting on the same committees or boards that have many meetings, rotate them so it’s all fair, he said.
Reeve Millar questioned if Mr. Beakley, when he did the review eight years ago, recommended a huge base increase on councillor’s salary.
Coun. McLaughlin said to go back that far it would be better to review the minutes. He recalled prior to the change, he received about $9,000, but now he’s receiving about $13,000, which is a difference of $4,000 over 12 years.
“If you look at the whole pie figure…our honourarium is 1.2 per cent of the whole pie,” he said. “Maybe that’s where we should start.”
While Reeve Millar doesn’t believe council took Mr. Beakley’s recommendation, Coun. Jackson disagreed, noting the current pay is what was recommended, going from being paid per meeting to a flat honourarium.
She suggested when it’s time to hire Mr. Beakley, since he has the previous information, he include that in any report.
“To be fair to every council moving forward, not just this council, that it be reviewed and we have the information from 2014, do we wait a year or not wait a year,” Coun. Jackson questioned.
Nothing has to be implemented from a report unless council wants to, she said.
“It’s just the actual study to have those figures ready and have the study completed,” she said. “We could implement it in 2016, 18 or 19, it doesn’t really matter.”
Councillor Cathy Regier agreed with Coun. Jackson.
“I do believe you need an overall view of an outsider looking in,” she said. “Bruce Beakley has the qualifications, he has dealt with this all the time and I don’t think it’s fair for anyone sitting around this table to decide how much money we should be making.”
Coun. Regier said it was eight years ago when it was reviewed and it’s time it was done again.
“For a $1,000, I think it’s a $1,000 well spent,” she stated.
Reeve Millar reiterated he wanted to wait a year.
“Let’s figure out if we deserve it first,” he said.
Coun. McLaughlin said he has no problem with waiting for the study. What he wants to see happen now is for council to share the full load.
If you want to leave the honourarium where it is, that’s fine, he said. However, there should not be councillors sitting on several boards/committees and not getting paid, including people who aren’t even councillors receiving pay for representing council, while others sit on none.
Coun. Olmstead suggested tabling this motion until the next committee meeting, because after listening to the two incumbents, it’s not fair to them to at least have a report completed.
Possibly the report could be done and then recommendations could be sat on for a while, he suggested.
Coun. Jackson said Mr. Beakley could review all the committees and see how often council members are attending various meetings.
“I’m all for fairness, and if it takes remuneration to make it fair, then I’m for that,” she said. “I think Bruce Beakley would perform the audit using the public engagement.
“I think it’s important to have the study done,” she said. “It could then be set out in a policy that it’s reviewed every so many years, just like staff is reviewed every five years.”
Once the report is back, council can then decide if it wants to implement any of the recommendations, she explained.
Coun. Olmstead put forth a challenge for council. If the report comes back saying the 2.4 per cent increase is fair, then the $1,000 comes out of that increase evenly divided between council members and not the coffers of the township.
“My goal is we not burden the taxpayer any more if we are already being compensated fairly,” he said.
However, without the study, how does council know it’s being compensated fairly, Coun. Regier countered.
CAO FitzSimons suggested Mr. Beakley come to a committee meeting, so he could hear exactly what the expectations of council would be if he were hired to do the study.
Coun. Jackson suggested CAO FitzSimons, Coun. McLaughlin and herself draft a letter to Mr. Beakly with the parameters of what the study would entail.
“To waste Bruce’s time to come to a council meeting and to hear all of that, it would be just as simple to put it in a letter to hire him to do this,” she said.
The committee agreed to table the motion and have a letter sent to Mr. Beakley.
