City Administration will be establishing a new five-member public committee to make recommendations regarding the future remuneration of Yorkton's Mayor and Council.
"In 2007, the Council Remuneration Policy was last amended," explained City Clerk Bonnie Schenher. "The remuneration for the Office of the Mayor was established at a dollar figure of $47,921.30 and was to be adjusted annually to coincide with the increases that were awarded to City of Yorkton Out-of-scope staff. The intent of this policy was to establish the remuneration at 50 per cent of the City Manager's salary.
"However, due to market changes and a contract being established rather than a grid for the city Manager, the dollar figure established is no longer representative. At the same time Councillors' remuneration was also established at 30 per cent of the Mayor's."
Schenher said in terms of remuneration Yorkton appears to lag behind cities of a similar size in the province.
"A survey was conducted with other Cities of similar size or slightly larger and this revealed that the current salary of the Mayor and Council for the City of Yorkton is the lowest of the six communities surveyed. As the intent of the Policy was to establish the Mayor's salary at 50 per cent of the City Manager's and this is not the case, we need Council's direction on how they wish to proceed from here," she said.
Schenher told the regular meeting of Council Administration was bringing the issue forward as the role of the Mayor has evolved.
"It is important to note that the Mayor's position is a full-time position. This does not mean that the Mayor is always in the office from 8:00 to 4:00 every day, but rather that the Mayor's duties and days are varied. The City of Yorkton is growing; the Mayor is always the Mayor. Whether the Mayor is at a community function at 7:00 p.m. Sunday evening, or at an official meeting in Regina, Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. or out in the evening for a walk he/she is always the Mayor. Times are changing and potential developers and businesses interested in coming to Yorkton want to meet with the Mayor as well as Administration. They are interested in the political direction of the community, what Council's approach to development is. Is Yorkton business friendly, what is the growth potential and what type of businesses are being encouraged to attract growth to the community," she said.
With the changing time requirements of the Mayor, so too have the roles of Councillors changed.
With that in mind Schenher said Administration believes changes may be needed.
"Administration is of the opinion that the Councillors' salary should be increased to 33 1/3 per cent which is what many cities in Saskatchewan are set at. But we also would like to remove the $110 per day diem that Councillor's are allowed to claim when they spend more than half a day on City business. Our Mayor does not receive a car allowance and the salary of the Mayor takes into consideration that personal dollars are being used for travel and expenses in the City that are not being claimed," she said.
That said Councils' struggle with changing their own pay, said Schenher.
"However, it is always difficult for any Council to set their own remuneration. It is a requirement of The Cities Act that public notice be provided whenever Council deals with setting remuneration for members of Council, which keeps the process transparent and accountable. Prior to this coming back to Council for their final decision, Administration will provide public notice of the Council meeting this will be discussed at," she said.
To help Council with the decision Schenher put forward the committee idea.
In order to assist Council in setting the remuneration for the next Council and into the future, we would like to recommend that the City Manager/City Clerk be directed to approach five members in the business community to be part of a Council Remuneration Review Committee for a short period of time. The mandate of the committee would be to review the complete remuneration package to Councils of other cities in the province; how payment is structured and to report back to Council with their suggested recommendation for our own City Council.
To further separate Council from this process, we will not advise council of who these members are until the process is complete.
Councillor Larry Pearen liked the idea of a committee.
"I think this is a very fair way of doing it," he said.
Coun. Richard Okrainec agreed.
"I think the best way is the recommendation on the floor," he said.
The committee concept was unanimously supported by Council. There was no date associated with the motion for when the Committee would be established, or its recommendation provided to Council.
