November 30, 2011
Ratepayers request
council clawback
by Kay McQuade
Poor performance by municipal council should be reflected in their pay
increase.
That is the collective feeling of four dissatisfied Head, Clara, Maria
townships ratepayers.
The four ratepayers - Lita Therrien, Meredith Line, Ruth Morin and Mary
Pichette - each submitted an identical letter to council dated November
14, requesting that council “penalize itself by not applying the cost
of living increase to the total honorarium for the year 2011.”
The letter states that in their opinion “over the past year there have
been numerous challenges for council and multiple mistakes have been
made that have affected the productivity of council costing the
ratepayers money.”
They also feel that “council may have failed to adhere to the exact
letter of the law.”
Councillor Dave Foote commented that “it has been a hell of a year and
things have been allowed to slide out of control.”
He said he “is not here for the money” and feels that council should
not take a cost of living increase through the term, ending in 2014.
Councillor Jim Gibson said he could agree with the intent of the
resolution.
He remarked “people say you didn’t do a good job so we shouldn’t get an
increase.”
But he noted that “our compensation package is aligned with the cost of
inflation so there is not a huge gap down the road.”
He also made the statement that “due to the reeve’s attempt to remove
me from council, it has cost me $1,365 so I am against this.”
The amount refers to legal costs incurred by Gibson in May when he was
forced to go to court to be reinstated to council after he failed to
submit the required election finance form by the deadline set by the
province.
Councillor Ed Aiston said “I cannot support this.”
“It has nothing to do with money because I will not be here long enough
to collect,” he said, as he has previously stated he plans to tender
his resignation at the December 3 council meeting.
He said “we may not have used judgement that others may have used” but
he can’t accept that “we have failed to adhere to the exact letter of
the law.”
The motion was defeated, with only Councillor Foote voting in favour.
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