An information-only report got councilllors considering the city’s boards and committees Monday.
The report looked into whether or not remuneration for members of the city’s various boards and committees should be indexed for inflation. Although administration recommended against the idea, Coun. Iain Angus said there should be a system in place because otherwise a stipend put in place ten years ago remains unchanged.
Coun. Brian McKinnon agreed but didn’t want indexing to be unlimited.
"Who knows the way the economy is going we may have a double digit index one of these years," Mckinon said.
Coun. Aldo Ruberto said the real issue is that some boards, such as TbayTel and Hydro, receive stipends above expense reimbursement while other boards receive nothing.
"Right now it’s totally unbalanced," Ruberto said.
And with some councillors sitting on ten boards while others only sit on two, the city needs to look into how the workload is distributed among councillors.
The city should also be looking into how many of its 33 boards and committees are necessary Coun. Joe Virdiramo said. City manager Tim Comisso said the clerk’s office is looking into that very issue.
Currently, increases only occur when board members request them and city council approves.
