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Task force removal not in the best interests of Cochrane

I believe council’s decision to remove the remuneration task force was short sighted and failed to show leadership. I was also disappointed that Mr. Reed and Mr. Nagel expressed concerns about this issue but appeared to vote in favour of the motion in the end according to the May 25, 2019 council meeting video.

My first concern is that this decision will lead to a steady increase in council remuneration. Why am I so convinced, simple, there are numerous examples of senior administration quoting the need to ‘attract talent’ by offering ‘competitive wages’. They typically use a wage/compensation comparison to Calgary. In the past these comments have referred to staff salaries but one would have to be willfully choosing to ignore the obvious not to see this same logic will be used in determining council remuneration in the future.

The May 25, 2019 video shows a debated rational of, “this (referring to the vote) is not a raise for us, it’s a pay raise for the next town council (councillor Wilson)”. I agree with Mr. Reed's statements that most if not all of current council will likely run for town council in 2021 and it is a fact that incumbents have an advantage to get re-elected. It is not just ‘optics’ that matter here. Council has, by default, voted themselves a substantial raise in 2021.

Another issue is that council has now removed direct input from the community. Community involvement is never wasted and decisions that restrict this involvement should never happen!

Voting on remuneration was always awkward for council but the discussion that I witnessed in the November 25, 2019 video seemed to be focused more on removing an inconvenience than moving forward with a more credible plan.

Even if council did decide they no longer wished to take direct accountability for their salaries, and there is some credibility here, council could have ensured that appropriate parameters were given to administration to guide future remuneration.

For example, why not pass a motion that only permits future remuneration increases at a maximum of 5-10 per cent below the 50th percentile for similar communities?

That way administration would do the work, which I agree is within their capabilities of doing, councils' time commitment for this issue would be significantly decreased, the process would be transparent with clearly established criteria, council would show a priority to be fiscally responsible and council wouldn’t be seen as abdicating or 'side stepping’ the responsibility that comes with being an elected civil servant.

I respect a lot of what the current council has done but on this issue, I think they made a very poor decision.

- Dan Cunin

 

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