REPORT ON COUNCIL April 28, 2008 Committee of the Whole Meeting: 9:00 a.m. – 12:31 p.m. and 1:01 p.m. – 3:41 p.m. Regular Evening Meeting: 7:09 p.m. – 8:09 p.m. Four Members of Council present for much of the day. Mayor Breckenridge left at 2 p.m. of Committee of the Whole. Councillor André Claire absent all day.
CONFIDENTIAL / CLOSED SESSION: 12:23 p.m. – 12:31 p.m.
CRITICISM OF COUNCIL PAY INCREASES: Bob Buchkowsky, a former Councillor, met with the Clerk to discuss his concerns about Council pay increases. He had thought that the last Council’s motion that Council pay increases should be addressed toward the end of a term and put into effect after the election for the incoming Council was binding on this Council. But the Clerk assured him that Council is not bound by a motion of a previous Council.
He was invited to discuss his second major criticism – the size of the pay increases, expressed in his proposed deputation as percentage increases. Council pointed out the inaccuracy of his numbers.
We note that Mr. Buchkowsky was asked by the last Council to comment on a consultant’s recommendations regarding payment of members of Council. The consultant did not include seasonal residents when considering Tiny Township’s population and the workload of members of Council. At that time, in 2006, Mr. Buchkowsky noted:
“- The population numbers in Exhibit 2 represent permanent residents for the municipalities. If the numbers also included seasonal residents then the Township of Tiny would be in the upper end of the comparator group rather than close to the median.
“- There is a significant variance in the high and low salaries for Mayor ($31.5K & S17.5K) and Councillors ($16.3K & $7.7K) across the 12 municipalities.
“The Report provides a good statistical comparison but very little identification of reasons for the differences in salaries or the variations between Mayor/Deputy Mayor/Councillor levels.”
RESPONSE TO FOTTSA’S DEPUTATION ABOUT COMMON REED (PHRAGMITES): Council approved “funding of up to $3,000 to retain a field consultant to report back on the current level of spread of the Common Reed within the Township and on public lands, and further;
“That staff work/liaise with other levels of government and agencies to research mitigation and education programming, and;
“That staff report back on the resources required to implement a Township-wide Common Reed Education and Mitigation program.”
For FoTTSA’s Deputation, click HERE.
DISCHARGE OF FIREARMS IN POPULOUS PARTS OF THE TOWNSHIP: There have been concerns about hunters’ use of packs of dogs to pursue coyotes across privately owned land. Council heard deputations from the Ontario Sporting Dog Association and from the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters. It had in hand a report from the By-law Department. The problem, as always, is that while most follow the rules and respect private property, some do not.
Many kinds of research must be done before a decision is taken about how to proceed. The Clerk will be preparing a report for Council to consider.
