It’s not often that someone gets to contemplate cutting their own job or upping their own salary.
City Council did both during committee talks on Monday night, as they spent over an hour and a half trying to come to some conclusions about the future makeup around the table and the way the politicians are paid for their services.
Ultimately, Coun. Mac Bain’s motion to reduce the size of council to eight members was moved forward for a final vote next week, while the separate idea of increasing the politicians’ pay was held on the general government committee while city staff report on reinstating councillor compensation for their involvement in the city’s various agencies, boards and committees.
Both motions were the brainchild of veteran councillor Bain, who has been preparing the documents for almost two years now and was commended by his colleagues for having the audacity to bring both topics back into the spotlight.
Reducing the size of council is the elected officials’ way of helping reduce the pressures on the annual budget, Bain argued, saving of up to $50,000 annually.
Despite the unanimous vote from the General Government Committee, the major concern revolves around the potentially adverse impact of adding responsibility and increased workload associated with reducing the amount of elected officials.
“I’m not comfortable with moving to eight,” Coun. Mark King said bluntly. “A tremendous amount of work is involved and a number of people who sit on this council do have full-time jobs, which makes it virtually impossible to make all of those three o’clock meetings.
“I think we have to recognize that, as councillors, we do have another life, and that other life is the ability to make a living in a tough economy,” he added.
With the councillors sitting on the long list of agencies, boards and committees, the demand of long evening board meetings and meetings during regular business hours stretches them too thin, some argue.
On top of that, since the current council’s term began, Mayor Al McDonald established specialized committees that met weekly to solve the water billing inequity, budget timeline process and long-term financial policy, for example.
Coun. George Maroosis, in particular, had concerns for the accessibility and the deterrents of the requirements of modern day City Council.
Having more than 30 years of experience as a councillor, Maroosis said that while he once represented the city alongside doctors, school principals, lawyers and other professionals with demanding schedules, the time, effort and commitment associated with the position today is too demanding for those individuals to get involved, therefore limiting the pool of potential politicians.
“I don’t think it’s about the money,” said Maroosis. “I think it’s about the workload, the timing of meetings and the commitments that have to be made.
“I think that our priority shouldn’t be just about how much people get paid; I think we should look at the first issue, which is: how many people do we need to do the job, and is it accessible for every average citizen to sit on this council?” he added.
Meanwhile, the concept of switching to a ward system from the current at-large structure was shunned by most around the table mostly due to reasons of the city being too small and the observation that councillors representing wards in other municipalities often do what’s best for their particular ward regardless of the outcome for the municipality as a whole.
Committee chairman Sheldon Forgette initially intended to assign city staff to gather more information on the matter, but after his committee colleagues urged him to put the motion forward to council, the politicians voted unanimously in favour of advancing it.
Ultimately, if the vote goes through, the decision to reduce the size of council to eight from 10 wouldn’t come into effect until the next term of council, beginning in 2018.
Councillor Remuneration
Councillors currently receive $19,065 annually, while the deputy mayor and mayor earn $20,969 and $59,574, respectively, all of which increase based on the consumer price index each year.
The last review of remuneration was in 2000, when councillor pay increased to $16,000 from $9,000 after an ad hoc citizens committee recommended an increase in pay, but also found that councillors didn’t run for the money.
The only change since then has been the annual increase in accordance with the consumer price index, which was also brought forward by Bain in 2006.
But one of the primary points of concern is the increased demand on the politicians on the various agencies, boards and committees that council members are involved in.
In 2003, the council of the day resolved to do away with the allowances allocated to them and members of the public representing the community for sitting on those committees, which Bain estimates cost the city around $34,000 annually.
The chair of District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board, for example, garnered an extra $2,000 plus expenses and fees associated with monthly meetings before 2003, Bain said.
On Monday, he suggested city staff find out what that number would look like today if reinstated.
“None of us around the table do it for the pay, but the pay does help,” he said. “All of us do a great deal that the public isn’t aware of.
“Committee meetings and meetings of council get much more media attention than a board meeting of the Health Unit,” he added. “Unless it’s something sensational, the general public don’t understand or have an appreciation for the amount of time and energy that we put in.”
Coun. Daryl Vaillancourt said the old financial incentive saw some of the politically astute put themselves in positions to get involved with the more lucrative boards.
Some of the most demanding of those committees include the DNSSAB, North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit, Cassellholme and the Police Services Board, among others.
Coun. King, the current chair of the DNSSAB, suggested that the regional representatives on those boards respond well to the financial incentives they receive and that it’s only “basic fairness” for those individuals to be rewarded the same way councillors are, or vice-versa.
If nothing else, the group seemed unanimously content with taking the opportunity to update council’s involvement and the structure of each committee.
Coun. Derek Shogren, who sits on nine committees in some capacity, said that North Bay sits "rock bottom" when it comes to council compensation and that, if it was up to him, he and his colleagues would be paid “in the middle of the pack” of comparative municipalities.
He said that while not seeing an increase in pay wouldn’t bother him if it was turned down, he thinks his colleagues should consider upping the Mayor’s salary at the very least, as well as the three committee chairs’.
Councillors Jeff Serran and Chris Mayne, on the other hand, were some of the most vocal in finding other incentives to encourage councillor participation.
“You don’t do this job for the money; you do it because you want to see change and better your city,” said Serran. “We have more pressing issues to be dealing with than discussing these, but I think the people we have coming forward want to make a positive change in our city.”
Ultimately, the committee directed the city's chief administrative officer, Jerry Knox, to compile comparative data with other municipalities.
When asked his opinion on forming an ad hoc citizens’ committee, similar to that used in 2000, Knox said there are some more fundamental questions that need to be answered first.
“One of the things I would suggest to council is […] it goes back to the fundamental concept of what is the role of council and what are the responsibilities of council,” he said to the councillors. “My suggestion would be that, we’ve never had this discussion before, at least in my 15 years that I’ve been around, as to the roles, responsibility and governance or council.
“There’s nothing wrong with getting some input from the community,” Knox added, “but really and truly, as a group, what do you see in the long-term for yourselves and for other people sitting in those chairs in the future?”
