The inevitable debate over council salaries began again during the District of Squamish council meeting on Tuesday (March 1) with Coun. Corinne Lonsdale making a motion to increase the mayor's salary to $48,000.
Lonsdale's motion also included adjusting the councillors' salaries in accordance with district policy, which states that councillors receive 48 per cent of the mayor's salary, and that the increase be phased in equally over two years.
The mayor currently earns $37,000 per year before benefits. On March 26, 2010, a motion to raise the mayor's salary to $50,000 was narrowly defeated after much discussion.
"Over the last couple of years we've had a lot of discussion around remuneration," said Lonsdale.
"It isn't that I think Mayor Gardner is looking for more money and neither am I, but I don't think that a lot of people out there realize how much time you put into your position as mayor.
"I don't think it's out of line to raise your salary."
Last year council requested that staff research salaries in B.C. municipalities for comparison and results indicated local council remuneration falls within similar parameters as the rest of the province.
Coun. Doug Race, who voted against the salary increase last year, supported at least having the discussion again.
"I am going to support this because I think it's a worthwhile discussion, particularly around the mayor's salary, but I don't know how supportive I am of increasing councillor salaries," he said, citing the research done by staff last year.
"If I remember correctly, I think the mayor was very near the lower end of the range, but councillors were not necessarily so."
Coun. Bryan Raiser, who put forward the motion to raise the mayor's and councillors' salaries several times last year, also spoke in support of the motion.
"I too will be supporting this motion and I very much would like to thank Coun. Lonsdale for bringing up this very important issue that some find difficult to do," he said.
Last year when the motion was defeated, Raiser was upset and said salary was a barrier to running for council for a large number of eligible citizens.
"At this point," said Raiser at that time, "unless you can financially afford it, it can't be done. We shouldn't hide behind the numbers. Money is a barrier."
Coun. Paul Lalli said he would not be supporting the motion and before the motion was put to vote, Lonsdale added some comments.
"I've done a little bit of research on this whole thing," she said. "One thing that I found quite intriguing this afternoon was I took a look at what would transpire if one of our directors at the regional district became chair of the regional district, and he would actually make more money than the mayor of the District of Squamish."
The motion to consider the salary increase in the 2011 budget discussions passed, with only Lalli opposed.
Trails master plan adopted
The district took its first step toward recognizing the importance of the Squamish trails network by approving the Trails Master Plan on Tuesday.
The plan, which has been in the works for a few years, aims to create an inventory of trails in town by classifying them and creating a plan for their upkeep. During a Committee of the Whole meeting on Jan. 24, trails coordinator Todd Pope presented a plan to council that gives context and a framework to existing Squamish trails.
"The master plan is to provide a comprehensive strategy for the ongoing development of our community-wide trail network," Pope said.
The first major challenge facing Pope was to determine which trails are on Crown land, private land and district-owned land. The next is to secure legal right-of-way for more than 1,000 trails.
The master plan lays out some broad goals: to work in concert with landowners and trail users, to develop policies to secure the provision of trails in new developments, to develop a system of signage and to provide gateway trailhead areas throughout the community.
It seeks to identify the best ways to secure land tenure, provide barrier-free access to some trails, adopt sustainable trail design and building practices, reduce liability and reduce conflict among user groups.
The district would also undertake an annual trail inspection program aimed at correcting unsafe trail conditions and restoring damaged trails.
Float Homes could provide new housing option
The policy review standing committee brought forward a recommendation for staff to explore float home opportunities in the Mamquam Blind Channel. It was labelled medium priority, which chief administrative officer Kevin Ramsay said means it's not urgent but would fit into staff's 2011 workload.
Race said the housing wouldn't necessarily be classified as affordable, as float homes are generally expensive, but might be an attractive option to some current or future residents.
Field costs under scrutiny
In light of the recent confusion between the district's track and field design proposal and the Squamish Soccer Association's (SSA) proposal, council members asked staff to find out exactly how much it would cost to develop two standard-size synthetic turf playing fields and a running track.
That's what SSA put forward in its Legacy Fund proposal - no bells and whistles, just the fundamentals - and the projected price tag was just under $3 million. The not-so-similar design that DOS hired a consultant to cost out came in at $9 million.
Council members also asked staff to price each field out separately and have the information available by March 22 so council can decide whether money in the 2011 budget should go toward the project.
"We need to do this so we know we're comparing apples to apples," Race said.
"There was a lot of confusion over the scope of the projects and the cost discrepancy," added Coun. Patricia Heintzman.
Sewer rates under scrutiny
Although council members did not question the necessity of the 15 per cent utility hike discussed last week after the "terrifying" infrastructure report that explained Squamish's dire need to replace deteriorating infrastructure, Lonsdale had one concern.
She asked how it makes sense that the owners of "public houses" (bars) pay more for utilities than car washes.
Joanne Greenlees, financial services general manager, said Lonsdale made a good point and staff recently realized the rate structure was problematic.
"This is an urgent issue and the structure hasn't been changed in years," she said. "The engineering department is looking to revise the bylaws this year."
Lonsdale said that should be done as quickly as possible, especially considering the substantial hike and the sensitive economic situation bars face in Squamish.
"These establishments are already having a tough enough time because no one's drinking anymore," she said. "This needs to be addressed."
Mayor Greg Gardner said he hoped the structure would be changed for the better by 2012.
"Staff will come up with a more fair structure for next year," he said.
The staff recommendation to increase water and sewer rates by 15 per cent was carried unanimously and Gardner reminded the public that there were no projected increases for garbage collection.
