During the Dec. 5 City of Quesnel council meeting, Councillor Scott Elliott, who chairs council’s executive committee, spoke about what the committee considers to be an equity issue amongst the various councillors.
Elliott said councillors who act as standing committee chairs have a higher workload due to agenda preparation and committee chair meetings.
The councillor noted the committee felt this extra work needs to be reflected in the remuneration.
“We talked about the possibility of $50 for a standing committee chair and $25 a month extra for a standing committee chair. It’s just indicative of some of the hours that can go into these things.
“The acting mayor role is another one. I’ve been the acting mayor a number of times and there can be situations where you are spending more time….”
During the executive committee meeting, it was suggested a stipend should be allocated to the committee chair role ($50/month for standing committee chair, $25 for select committee chairs).
Other suggestions
• The acting mayor role can be time consuming, depending on the mayor’s schedule. This role can result in the councillor attending meetings that are incremental to the normal council schedule. A $50 per month stipend was suggested for councillors while they are acting mayor.
• The impact of the upcoming taxation changes to the tax-free portion of the Council remuneration was discussed. Finance department to estimate what the increase would be to keep councillors’ pay “whole” after the tax change.
• Council remuneration of other communities was also discussed; the average remuneration paid to Quesnel’s mayor and council is within the normal range of like-sized communities.
• Corporate and financial services director Kari Bolton was asked to bring a report to council, including a model showing the stipend increases for consideration.
Later in the meeting, council approved Elliott being the acting mayor January through June 2018, and Coun. Laurey-Anne Roodenburg being acting mayor July through when needed.