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Wage issue heats up in Squamish

Pay for mayor and council on par with peers, but still too low say councillors

A report on council wages ignited a long discussion about fair pay at Tuesday's District of Council meeting, with Councillor Bryan Raiser going as far as to suggest that now might be a good time to start throwing out numbers.

The mayor of Squamish, Greg Gardner, currently earns $35,923 a year, while councillors earn $17,243.

The Human Resources department at the District of Squamish looked at municipalities with similar annual operating budgets, $16 million to $40 million, as well as municipalities with populations between 10,000 and 25,000. Squamish has roughly 15,000 residents.

In comparison, Whistler's mayor is paid $81,802 annually and councillors are paid $29,312 in recognition of the workload and the fact that the population varies between 10,000 permanent residents and 50,000 depending on the week and the number of visitors in town.

Among other things the District of Squamish report found that Squamish elected officials are among the lowest paid, with the mayor's salary at the 42 nd percentile (with the highest paid mayor in a similar-sized community representing 100 per cent), and councillors in the 70 th percentile. With the exception of Pitt Meadows, councillors in all other comparable communities earned over $20,000 per year, while mayors generally earned $50,000 or more.

Bryan Raiser says he made increasing wages one of his campaign promises, believing that it would allow more people to participate in local politics while also recognizing the amount of work the job requires.

"I've been yelling about this for eight years since I found out how little council was paid," he said. "It's not even about how much we're paid, it's about fair and equal representation. How much we're paid... assures that we'll be represented by retired or wealthy residences - which are important groups that need to be represented, but to only represent those people is ridiculous.

"It's not a volunteer job, it's not a part-time job."

Councillor Rob Kirkham took some exception to the idea that he only represents his age and income group.

"I'm not sure how others see themselves, but I don't see myself as pigeon-holed to representing these people or those... I was elected by the entire community to represent every citizen in the community," he said. He also said that public office should be a sacrifice to some degree, and that sitting on council is not a job.

Raiser replied that it is. "This is totally a job... Of course it's a job, and it's a bloody serious job and should be respected as such."

Councillor Patricia Heintzman said she almost didn't run for office because of the low salary and high demands on her time.

"It's the time of your life when you should be making money to put away for retirement, and this is a sacrifice," she said. "You could even double (wages) and it would still be a sacrifice in terms of lost income and other opportunities."

Mayor Greg Gardner said it was a difficult topic.

"I have no preconceived notion how to deal with this, it's a difficult situation to set our own salaries," he said. "I said in the campaign that we have an obligation to consider this once in a while. It's difficult to answer, which is why there's no staff recommendation and this report was filed for information. There are no provincial guidelines."

Councillor Paul Lalli said he understands Raiser's frustration but said it was probably best discussed in the Committee of the Whole's budget process, which is currently underway.

"I think the appropriate place for this debate is during our budget discussion because it will have budget implications," said Lalli.

The move was seconded, but Raiser wasn't done. He asked why the report on wages didn't take into account issues like cost of living, and said the budget meeting could bury any discussion over wages.

"It keeps getting passed off and passed off, and the problem never goes away," he said. "In the budget it's easy to say there's no money. I'd like this dealt with, we're grown up and we can deal with this issue no matter how sensitive it is."

Council voted to back Lalli's motion to send the report and issue of remuneration to the Committee of the Whole.

 

Motion to open SSC meetings to the public denied

Councillor Patricia Heintzman made an unusual request of her fellow councillors to open up future meetings of the Squamish Sustainability Corporation (SSC) to the public, over concerns that all seven members of the SSC board are also members of the District of Squamish Council - a move that was made after the previous board resigned en masse back in May.

Members of council, including the mayor, said that the district council meeting was not the place to discuss the issue, and that it should be discussed at an SSC meeting.

Heintzman defended her motion, noting that this was the only way to have the discussion in public.

"Some object to being forced to converse this way in public," she said. "This is a unique case... However you slice and dice it, seven of us elected ourselves to sit in that room.

"I don't think the rules that govern municipal corporations ever envisioned elected officials appointing themselves and nobody else to the board, and if they had maybe they (the rules) would have been written a little differently."

Heintzman says members of the community find it suspicious that council is meeting behind closed doors, and doesn't see a reason why most meetings over the Squamish Adventure Centre - currently the SSC's only project - couldn't be discussed in public."

The councillors opposed the motion.

 

Funding found for Kingswood Overpass

Municipal staff discovered $750,000 to put towards repairs to the Kingswood pedestrian overpass instead of using money from long-term debt to finance the project.

On Tuesday council approved a plan to draw the money from the municipality's Gas Tax Reserve Fund instead of long-term debt, which was originally intended for other projects in town. The withdraw will leave just $50,000 in the reserve fund, but that will increase again with a contribution of $229,000 expected later this year.

The reserve fund holds federal gas taxes that are being redistributed to communities and is intended the cover the costs of transit or transportation infrastructure. The pedestrian overpass, temporarily removed for Highway 99 construction, qualifies.

 

Weddings may be on the way for Howe Sound Inn

The District of Squamish gave unanimous backing to the Howe Sound Inn and Brewing Company's application to the provincial Liquor Control and Licensing Board to change the Food Primary licence for the North Beach Lounge with a Patron Participation Entertainment Endorsement - notwithstanding some concerns by a developer who worries about the impact that noise will have on his project.

The licence will allow the restaurant to host weddings and other events, allowing things like live music and dancing.

Before the council meeting the Inn reached an agreement with TiGERi Properties, which is developing a 33-unite multifamily development in the lot next to the restaurants. The agreement would limit the Inn to hosting private functions only - no concerts or other events open to the public - and would limit the number of weddings to 10 a year with no more than two in a month. They also agreed to try to contain the noise, although the developer, Myron Calof, agreed to drop that clause after learning more about the municipal noise bylaw.

Councillor Bryan Raiser said he would support Howe Sound Inn's application without any concessions to the developer, as did Councillor Patricia Heintzman.

"Our liquor laws are archaic," said Raiser. "I'm a little confused there is a concern the building will be a party establishment when in the same building, right next door, there's a bar. All the concerns (over noise) are already there. They (tiGERi) knew that going in. I also don't like any of the obligations. There's a wedding season."

Heintzman agreed. "Howe Sound Inn has hotel rooms upstairs, and they're not going to make their guests completely miserable," she said. She also said it was ridiculous to limit the number of weddings that the restaurant can host.

Councillors Paul Lalli, Doug Race and Rob Kirkham agreed to a point, but said it was up to the Howe Sound Inn whether to attempt to reach a compromise with the developer and that it wasn't council's place to second guess that compromise.

There's also the future to consider, said Race.

"The Howe Sound Inn is a well run operation, and I accept they might not intend a nightclub atmosphere or karaoke. But if the building was sold tomorrow then the next operator could change their mind and we could find a band there seven nights a week," said Race. "It's difficult to envision because the land is located at the end of Cleveland Avenue, and we have rezoned the lands across the street and adjoining it. We are changing the character of the neighbourhood, making it more residential."

The motion to support the change to the application passed, with the agreement attached.