All of the mayor’s future Capital Region Board income will be recorded by the City of St. Albert after a unanimous vote at council on Monday night.
Coun. Cam MacKay’s motion to force Mayor Nolan Crouse to disclose his income from serving as chair of the regional board was split into three sections at the request of Coun. Gilles Prefontaine
MacKay also proved amenable to tweaking some of the wording of the motions, with suggestions from fellow councillors to take some of the language that claimed all other elected officials who participate in regional board activities disclose their income except for Crouse and to generalize the motions’ language so they apply to all future councillors and mayors – not just Crouse.
“These funds should have been disclosed,” MacKay said. Crouse’s board chair honorarium of $2,000 a month was being paid through a corporation to him personally until recently, as was money paid on a per meeting basis which should have been collected through the city.
Crouse excused himself from the debate and the voting and left the chambers because the debate was about him.
The rest of council opted to support the series of motions, though some, like Couns. Cathy Heron and Wes Brodhead, called for some clarity to be brought to St. Albert’s council remuneration policies when council members become board chairs of other organizations through their council work.
Heron wanted to make sure that Crouse’s per diems as St. Albert’s representative to the regional board were recorded separately from his honorarium for being board chair.
“It’s a distinction that needs to be made,” Heron said.
Coun. Tim Osborne went so far as to make a notice of motion to strike a council pay committee in 2015, to be debated at a future meeting.
The distinction between Crouse’s roles was a point of contention, as was Brodhead’s comments that the policies needed to ensure “we’re not setting ourselves up for disaster,” but didn’t impact the vote.
After Crouse returned to the council chambers, he offered apologies to staff, council and MacKay and Coun. Hughes in particular for having to address the questions raised about his pay and expenses.
“Sorry is about all I can say. I apologize and one day maybe you’ll accept my apologies. Today I understand there’s some trust that’s been shaken … my job now is to serve both the CRB and the City of St. Albert and also to comply with whatever motions you just approved,” Crouse said.
A motion from Hughes’ calling for an independent auditor to look at Crouse’s expenses is yet to be debated in council chambers.
