Both the mayor and a city councillor said they want out of a review of council remuneration.
The review was meant to be part of a larger examination of union and non-union city staff salaries. The city is seeking a consultant to help with the review, which will also have an as-yet-unnamed community member on the panel.
Former mayor Richard Plain argued against the inclusion of Mayor Nolan Crouse and Coun. Roger Lemieux in looking over council compensation. He said any member of council participating in such a review gives the appearance of non-transparency and a lack of accountability to the process.
"Justice must not only be done, but be seen to be done," he told council on Monday. "The process that you have in place raises the question of if [justice] seems to be done in the first place."
Mayor Nolan Crouse admitted the optics of the review were not good and that he and Lemieux had decided last week to make a request to take the council remuneration out of the review parameters. Council approved the terms of the review on June 21.
The last major review of council salaries was in 2004 when a citizen-led committee made several recommendations on how the city could ensure councillors could be paid in a way that was fair to both council and taxpayers. The final report recommended the city pay the mayor at the 60th percentile of mayors in comparative municipalities and councillors should receive a salary equal to 35 per cent of the mayor. A periodic review was also suggested to ensure salaries were kept in line with comparable municipalities.
Open to criticism
Crouse later said he was alerted to the problem after he received an email from a resident and saw comments in the local media. A discussion with Lemieux revealed their discomfort with the idea and, coupled with Plain's statement to council, was enough proof they needed to take council remuneration out of the overall review.
"We have to do what's right," he said. "It was probably a mistake."
Lemieux said he felt uncomfortable with the idea shortly after the terms were approved. He said he had no issue with reviewing city staff salaries, but he knew the idea of reviewing his own salary did not sit well with him.
"You're leaving yourself open to criticism," Lemieux said. "It was never our intention to do that … I don't know how it got in there."
He said the only purpose of the review was to ensure city staff salaries are competitive with other municipalities.
According to both Crouse and Lemieux, council remunerations are reviewed by administration. Lemieux added the next review of council compensation wasn't scheduled until 2011.
Crouse said he wasn't entirely sure how council would go about changing the terms of the review. He believed council would wait until the consultant proposals were in before they looked at the issue, which he said should be done by Aug. 15.
