I have a Notice of Motion on next week's agenda. Also a request to waive procedure to allow the question to be dealt with at the meeting.
This issue was recently on the table, received and not dealt with.
The administration provided a recommendation .
Last time it was an ad hoc committee
Both are strategies to suggest Council is not making the decision to increase remuneration for the job they do.
But of course, Council does.
Only Councillors know the demands on time and effort. I've never seen a committee recommendation
that acknowledged let alone reflected reality.
Nothing has changed in ten years in a Councillors status and remuneration in ten years.
A cost-living- adjustment is made each year which merely maintains keeps same compensation.
The Town grows, administration mushrooms, work multiplies ,financial responsibility increases
proportionately but a Councillor must squeeze it all in and be paid compensation that bears no resemblance to responsibility.
The issue is not just about compensation.
Part-time hours do not provide enough time for work to be efficiently accomplished.they don't even come close.
Town business gets short shrift from the elected body.
This week is a typical example.
The agenda was available late Friday before close of business. I started reading Friday evening.
Business meeting starts on Tuesday evening at 6 pm.
A bite to eat is provided at 5.30pm.
A meeting of the Audit committee starts at 6, Council at 7 and an in-camera meetings tso deal with acquisition of property never publicly discussed.
Hour of adjournment is 10.30 pm.
If no-one talks everything could be done within an hour.
I am frequently reminded by one of those who come to the meeting with decisions decided and minds closed.
The contract for the Salt Management, Snow storage,Snow Disposal, Snow treatment facility is on
the agenda for approval . It is three quarters of a million dollars.
The joint operations facility , contract is also to be awarded.
It's more than $17 million without optional items and excluding taxes. Optionals are half a million. Taxes I'm not sure of nor why they are never included in the contract price.
Actual spending in 2013 is also on the agenda along with eleven other agenda items including a meeting of the audit committee and an in- camera meeting on an acquisition of property that the public has had no say.
Keep in mind. the job is supposed to be part-time. The only full-time salary is paid to the office of Mayor.
Town offices are closed on Saturday and Sunday.
Heritage Advisory committee meets on Monday evening.
That leaves Saturday and Sunday to read, comprehend and determine a position in preparation for the meeting on Tuesday evening.
Yesterday, great grand-children came for the last time before returning to Gig Harbour in Washington State on the other side of the continent. I spent the day on the deck with family around me.
To-day I am doing laundry while hydro is at it's lowest rate and hanging it on the line to dry.
I've responded lengthily to a lengthy e-mail from a resident, providing information.
I need to do some shopping.
I shall read the rest if the agenda and between now and Tuesday prepare to argue a position on a number of separate issues.
Rules of order provide two minutes to speak no matter the significance of the issue.
I need also to prepare an argument for dealing with the issue of Council Remuneration and adequacy of part -time Council status to deal with the work and availability required to attend properly to the business of the corporation . Even though it may not be permitted.
I will likely write another couple of posts .
And attend to any other problems that comes to my attention from the community.
No...I do not work part-time.
No....I am not paid for the hours I work.
If I can't throw light on what the job requires, I don't know who else can.
I do believe it should be discussed and decided before allowing candidates for office to make a four year commitment to unknown demands.
Sunday, 10 August 2014
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35 comments:
Taking your items in order, the decision about councillors' pay will be postponed for the new council. There will be no courage to do it so late in term although early in the term was also considered unwise.
And
The decision on salt treatment has been oked unless Cllr Thompson decides to refer/defer.
I expect it to be a very short meeting - wish it were otherwise. But in the summer, it is considered safe to assume no one is watching.
It would be great if the salary were to be raised. We sure pay staff enough and they seem to have plenty of time off.
I have been watching tennis on the supposedly cash-strapped CBC. Somehow they came up with 3 bodies to sit at a table and discuss what viewers could see for themselves. I expect the pay is pretty darn good. What councillors in Aurora receive now is ridiculously low. Surely there must be some study already on a shelf comparing the amounts that other towns provide ?
Councillors should go on strike.
That would simplify the town's operation.
I believe councillors and Mayor salaries are based on population of Town. That being said...So should Towns staff.
We have many staff on sunshine list.I just wish most councilors would stop raining on our parade.
Is the expectation of a councillor to be a full-time or a part-time job?
A salary is payment for doing a job, it typically has no number of hours attached to it. You need to work as long as it takes to do the job.
I think that the salary paid to council members is too low. The low salary is a contributing factor to the quality of people that throw their hats into the ring at election time. If the expectation is to live off of the salary for a councillor, the person running usually has some other income at home to top it up (be it a spouse, parent, pension or independant wealth). Raise the salary, get better candidates!
We do seem to have an excessive # of staff on the Sunshine list given the size of the town and its requirements.
I have no idea where the salt-removal initiative came from but it does sound like something that staff might suggest. Perhaps each project should be marked as to source so we can sort out the red herring like heritage trees on private land and power grabs for select districts. By the time a matter has wound its way through the process, its origin is often blurred.
The raise in pay for the next Mayor takes effect in the new term. Time to bring up the councillors too. Get to done.
I would rather spend $160,000 (8x$20,000) on increases for councillors provided they are capable of doing the job.
This amount could easily be saved annually by doing away with all the stupid consultants and their even stupider studies and reports.
It's public service, not conscription.
I would hazard a guess that 8:34 has not worked for a while. The current threshold for the sunshine list is about $30,000 too low. The $100,000 line was set a number of years ago and takes no consideration for cost of living, merit increases or paying market rate for talent.
Has no one ever noticed the Sunshine list gets bigger every year. It's because people get raises for doing a good job and they get cost of living increases.
To continue to use $100K as the limit now is like considering anything over a $1.00 is too high for a litre of gasoline.
Are all these supporters of a councillor pay rise the same people that decry any Town spending?
18:12
No not all of them. And those that do complain about Town spending complain about Town spending when it does not serve them.
18:12
I think it might be a question of priorities . Your list might be different from mine but we both have them.
“Talent” is the operative word. I hazard to guess that you haven’t seen how many are on that sunshine list across Ontario, let alone Aurora. Funny how we have all this talent considering the financial mess we’re in. Have a look. www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/publications/salarydisclosure/pssd/
The recent flurry of public expense rip-off stories, the latest in Alberta, makes public service look more like feeding time on a hog farm.
Is this the sort of example we want to provide for our children should they one day consider serving the public?
Thank you, 15:58, for justifying a hike in councillor salaries. They have not kept pace with the cost of living.
Aaargh ! Mork has died !
I agree 18:55. I’d rather have that 26 million garage. How about that heritage park? Or lets throwaway more money to that department that we call “communications.” I think we can pretty much all agree that salaries that council members receive is ridiculous. Especially the amount of hours councillor Buck puts in, but then again we have a couple of councillors that owe us money. They bring nothing to council chamber except for warming up the council seats.
14:24
Not is this a serfdom. If you want to send someone to do the job for you, it is only decent to provide that individual with the tools needed.
& we do not need to treat Aurora's snow
It's all about performance and meeting objectives. Countless hours spend reading staff reports etc. is of little concern. Of course there will be more in the "in box" if there is an inefficient group that wants more reports from staff, more referrals and deferrals back to staff.
Councillors need to be focused on town business and consider projects and hiring in terms of available resources.
I think this town could quite efficiently operate with six part time ward councillors. Consider increasing it to twelve so that all can spend time reading reports and deferring and referring matters. Would twelve councillors relieve the perceived workload?
I favour an increase at a rate inversely proportional to annual tax increases. If the work cannot be handled within the ever increasing resources being put into town coffers there would be no increase - otherwise at the rate of inflation.
It's all about performance and meeting objectives. Countless hours spend reading staff reports etc. is of little concern. Of course there will be more in the "in box" if there is an inefficient group that wants more reports from staff, more referrals and deferrals back to staff.
Councillors need to be focused on town business and consider projects and hiring in terms of available resources.
I think this town could quite efficiently operate with six part time ward councillors. Consider increasing it to twelve so that all can spend time reading reports and deferring and referring matters. Would twelve councillors relieve the perceived workload?
I favour an increase at a rate inversely proportional to annual tax increases. If the work cannot be handled within the ever increasing resources being put into town coffers there would be no increase - otherwise at the rate of inflation.
9:51
I agree with everything except the idea of wards. To me, that would be divisive and expensive.
9:51 times 2
"Councillors need to be focused on town business..."
Here here....
Councillors need to understand where their limits of power start and end. If they did that, they would have more time on their hands.
Too many times, they go off on crusades that they have no right or power to deal with.
Crusades like the 'de-Stalinization' of the Morrisites of the previous term, 08:49?
11:57
There is no way to over-come the Citizen & other Blogs just sitting there waiting to be read by anyone new to town.
15:05, the reference was to the personal vendetta which spurred a campaign to 'undo' the initiatives of the previous term's leadership.
16:05
- then the reference lacked clarity.
The previous team tried to wipe out the initiatives of the one before it.
That is just politics, I guess.
18:47, one person's lack of clarity is another person's lack of comprehension.
Meanwhile, where does the cycle of tit-for-tat get us?
19:36
Where does it get us? No where.
Depending on the next band of losers that are elected, we may have someone that wants to install chicanes or have Yonge street "vision" or change a street name.
There should be some sort of law about re-opening old debates, otherwise we just go back and forth.
08:26, isn't there a rule about a six-month period before reconsideration of a previous vote?
I was curious if you ever thought of changing the structure of your site?
Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
But maybe you could a little more in the way of content
so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for
only having 1 or 2 pictures. Maybe you could space it out
better?
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