Athabasca town councillors are now eligible to supplement their salaries by attending public events.
A motion passed last Tuesday states that councillors will now receive compensation for every function they attend with council’s approval.
Previously, the town’s policy was that councillors could only expense public events at which they were invited to speak.
“When we ran for election our guideline was pretty much this, and now we are changing the guidelines,” Mayor Roger Morrill said when the motion came before council.
Councillor Lionel Cherniwchan asked for a policy that would mandate councillors to ask permission of council to attend an event, and have a motion on the books stating they were allowed to go. The motion ultimately passed, with Morrill and councillor Paula Evans voting against.
Evans argued that councillors don’t need to make more money.
“I have a list of councils from municipalities our size and what they spend on council,” Evans stated. “We are by no means by the bottom of the heap, so we are going to add to our expenses now?”
The issue was presented to council to determine when councillors should claim for attending an event.
Evans disagreed with the notion that councillors don’t attend events for lack of compensation, noting that it’s a lack of time, not money that restricts her from attending events.
“There is simply not enough time,” Evans pointed out.
“We are all at something anyway. It’s not a matter of money, it’s a matter of people who work and can’t do most of these things.
“I don’t think paying us is going to increase our attendance at these events,” she said.
“I agree with councillor Evans,” noted Morrill. “What restricts me is not the cost, but whether I can physically be there.”
Councillor Tim Verhaeghe said he has heard concerns from members of the public about councillor attendance at events, and wanted to clarify what events a councillor can charge for.
“I think my biggest concern is some of the feedback that I have heard from members of the public when (they) deem there is an important event; there isn’t enough council presence,” he said.
Evans said that if all councillors decided to attend a meeting, it would cost taxpayers $500.
“That’s ridiculous,” she said, saying the policy would be better suited if council assigned one or two councillors to attend instead of leaving the door open for all seven members.
“With all due respect, I can’t recall when all seven of us have attended a public event, so I am not too worried about that,” Tim Verhaeghe stated.
Councillor Richard Verhaeghe said he thought that since councillors were not attending a large number of conferences, the money left over should transfer to wages.
“We’re not spending the money on conferences,” councillor Richard Verhaeghe said during the meeting. “We have a whole ton of money from conferences; let’s blow it on wages.
“We tend to micromanage the little issues, and the big issues simply escape us— poof,” he continued.
“Let the councillor go, and collect.”
Morrill stated this issue should be addressed a few months before the next municipal election.
Councillor George Hawryluk said, “To make it simple, common sense, anytime a councillor is representing this town at a public function, they should be remunerated, end of discussion.”
