For the first time, Nanaimo city councillors will be paid for taking up the acting mayor’s chair.
Councillors will earn pay for serving as the acting mayor beginning this week as Coun. Bill Yoachim assumes the role.
City council voted 6-2 on Monday in favor of the new stipend, which will see councillors get an equivalent of 10 per cent of the mayor’s base compensation, calculated based on remuneration for the position in 2014, according to Victor Mema, director of finance.
It will give councillors about $1,189 – a three-per cent increase in politicians’ annual pay. In 2014, councillors Bill Bestwick, Jim Kipp and Diane Brennan each took in more than $35,000, financial documents show. The latest remuneration numbers for 2015 are not available until June.
City manager Tracy Samra said in a public meeting last month that discussion about a stipend for acting mayor duties, as well as a new portfolio system, originated in camera in regards to discussions about the increase in councillors’ duties during the last four months. She also said staff recommended consideration of a stipend, there were e-mail exchanges about this rationale and the director of finance was asked to undertake an analysis to see what that would look like and “he did the comparative” which was circulated to mayor and council by e-mail over the last month.
The new rate was opposed at a council meeting Monday by councillors Gord Fuller and Diane Brennan. Mayor Bill McKay was not in attendance.
Fuller said if respect was truly being shown, council would not need to do an acting mayor rate, but he wasn’t in favor of the motion. He said he would support it if the 10 per cent came from the mayor’s pay and if the mayor respected council and intends to miss meetings, he’d volunteer the 10 per cent.
Brennan wasn’t convinced it was necessary to increase the duties of the acting mayor.
“I think what we’re doing here is providing oversight to the activities of the mayor as opposed to what I think generally we should be doing and that is ensuring that there is back up to the duties when the mayor is not available,” said Brennan. “I haven’t seen the need for the oversight role and so it just hasn’t been made clear to me. So I won’t support this.”
There was no other discussion by councillors on the rate, which appeared in front of councillors for the fourth time since March.
Council initially agreed to the new pay as part of a spending and amenities policy, but withdrew it in April amid criticism there wasn’t enough chance for public input and procedure wasn’t followed. It was tabled at another meeting.
The pay began immediately after the decision. Mema said it’s not retroactive.