Why ?

Are elected officials not employees of the municipality ?

Because they are not hired and therefore cannot be fired. That's why.

Soon after a new Solicitor joined the Town's administration, the Mayor invited the officer to inform the Council of her status as an employee of the Municipality.

He obliged and declared it was so.

It's a tactic of the Mayor to set a staff person up to say something she wants to be said withot taking personal responsibility.

Some staff do it with less grace than others.

I declared I was unable to accept the solicitor's advice.

Signs were, the Mayor's objective was a complaint under an administrative policy that prohibits harassment of an employee.I think she was planning to complain about being harassed by me.

When I stated myself unable to accept the professional advice, the direction changed from a potential accusation of harassment, to shameful criticism of staff and Council's dire need to protect them from a pernicious assailant.

Me, Myself. Alone.

Councillor Gaertner asked the solicitor to outline how many years he had been a municipal solicitor.

As a strategy obviously it's better to be seen to be fighting to protect someone helpless to defend himself than engaging in the lowly art of politics.

It was hardly subtle.

The solicitor's opinion rested on an arrangement made with the Region of York about Regional Councillor benefits.

The base salary is around $50ks. Benefits are worth $10ks.

Councillors are not enrolled in the Region's benefit program. For some reason, they are enrolled in the municipality's program. So benefits are tacked on to the municipal salaries rather than the Region's. No doubt there is a reason. I just don't know it.

They are also entitled to severance pay when they retire or are defeated in an election.

There may be other benefits I don't know about.

In order for the benefit package to be paid, the Mayor of the day had to be classified as an employee.

An Aurora Councillor salary amount to about $22ks a year. There are no benefits. No severance pay . I noticed a rate on a pay slip once during the last term. It was $7.00 an hour. Hours were a fraction then of what they are now. But that's this Council's responsibility.

Aurora's part-time employees are paid $11.00 an hour. They don't get benefits either.

We provide full-time services with part-time workers because they are not entitled to benefits or vacations and we use them for statutory holidays so that we don't have to pay full-time employees time and a half.

It's cheap. A huge discrepancy exists between their remuneration and the people at the top.

But it's still better than a Councillor.

But I digress.

A couple of weeks ago I was informed of a comment made by the Mayor at the Farmer's Market.

A remark had been written about harassment

The Mayor said , she was glad it was understood because she had just ordered an investigation into harassment.

A innocent remark, you think

Well....... No...I don't think so.

That's why the question of whether an elected official is an employee of the municipality becomes relevant at this time.