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speakup

The city has named the members of a three-person committee to review all pay and benefits available to council.

Sitting on the committee are former MLA and former town councilor, Frank Kane, former president of the Downtown Miramichi Business Network Joe Hawkes and business owner and certified management accountant Irene McCardle.

The committee was proposed by Mayor John McKay at General Committee of Council on March 31 after a lengthy debate about councillors receiving health benefits similar to those received by city employees.

Approval of benefits for council is included as a line item it the annual budget.

The mayor and Coun. Brian King and Coun. Lisa Harris receive full benefits to the tune of $5,000 a term.

Coun. Ned Manderson is in receipt of partial benefits under the city plan. Coun.

Wendy Chadwick is also in receipt of city benefits, but indirectly through her husband, who is an officer with the Miramichi Police Force.

Coun. Jake McLaughlin raised the issue of benefits and how they are approved at a regular council meeting a week earlier during a debate for a buyout package for Lord Beaverbrook Arena manager Peter Nevin.

McLaughlin alleged there were “a few people around here pretty close to being involved in indictable offenses.”

He suggested a crown prosecutor was investigating the matter.

However the chief of police denied an investigation was in the works and the senior city staff, the city solicitor and a spokesperson for the provincial Local Government Department all confirmed nothing was done illegally.

The following Monday, McLaughlin said previous councils approved the benefits by a separate motion, not as a budget item and insisted council needed to approve the benefits as a separate item.

“I have no problem with the coverage for benefits for the council, but there’s no motion of council allowing that,” McLaughlin said at the time.

After a debate the mayor proposed the committee and it was approved by council. The proposal was then ratified at the last regular council meeting. In a written release Tuesday, the mayor said the committee will take a look at all compensation received by city councillors.

“A comparison will be made with other municipalities in New Brunswick to determine if the salary and benefits of the Miramichi council are consistent with the rest of the province.

Among the issues the citizens committee will be asked to review will be the propriety of allowing the councillors to purchase a health plan, mayor and councillors annual salary and the guidelines regarding per-diem,” the release states.

Currently, the annual salary for a councillor in Miramichi is $9,627.25.

For the deputy mayor it is $13,736.20 and for mayor it is $24,058.20.

In his release, the mayor said there is a difference between how per-diem is calculated in Miramichi compared to other communities.

“In most municipalities there is a set fee. In Miramichi, the standard remuneration is based on $19.85 per hour (the lowest labour rate for employees).

However the existing policy allows councillors to charge a higher rate of pay if it is comparable to their rate of pay at their non-councillors job,” the release states.

In the release, the mayor singled out Chadwick as one of the councilors who receives a higher rate. He also referenced a heated exchange between the two at the March 31 meeting after Chadwick questioned the mayor and some councillors’ decision to charge per-diem to attend the funeral for seven Bathurst High School basketball players killed in a van accident earlier this year.

“When we start billing for funerals … that’s when we start having [to take a] closer look at expenses and perceptions and conflicts,” Chadwick said at the time.

“You don’t want $360 a day anymore for going to meetings?” the mayor replied.

Following that meeting, the mayor said he was rethinking his decision to seek re-election May 12. Later that week he made it official, announcing he would not run.

The release also points out a committee to review compensation is not a new idea.

“This issue was previously raised at a June 12, 2006, by-laws meeting when Mayor McKay questioned the policy of having some councillors receiving 2.5 times more than other councillors for attending the same meeting. At that meeting Coun.

Chadwick noted that a citizens committee should be formed to review this issue, and the issue was tabled to be dealt with at a later time,” the release says.

On Tuesday, the mayor said the committee is a temporary one set up simply to review the information and make recommendations to council.

He said there is no set time limit, but he doesn’t expect it will take them too long to finish the job.

“I think preferable before the end of June [but] it’s going to be up to them how long they’re going to take,” he said.