City council to address motion on workload and expectations
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on July 23, 2024.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
City council today will address an official business motion to be presented by councillor Jenn Schmidt-Rempel calling for a review of workload, expectations and resourcing for elected officials.
Council meets at 12:30 p.m. in chambers at City Hall.
Schmidt-Rempel’s motion is asking council to direct city manager to engage an independent third-party review to provide recommendations with implementation options and costing to the Oct. 24 meeting of the Governance Standing Policy Committee on several items, including:
1. A survey of council members on the areas of work that each member considers essential to their role as an elected official, and the estimated time they each dedicate to these areas of work (e.g. ceremonial functions, meetings with residents and partner organizations in the city, answering correspondence, committee work, community events, community service, communication, etc.).
2. A complete analysis of the time and type of work councillors dedicate to their role as an elected official for municipal matters including but not limited to council meetings, Standing Policy Committee meetings, board and commission meetings, strategic planning sessions, operating and capital budget deliberations, orientation and training sessions, community meetings, conferences and intergovernmental meetings, professional development and certification, and public events.
3. A comparative analysis of Canadian municipalities with populations of 100,000 – 250,000 residents with an elected-at-large system for mayor and councillors or a ward system for councillors, examining:
a. The number of boards and committees (internal and external) requiring elected official appointments and the number of elected officials appointed to each;
b. Total compensation for elected officials, including per-diem purposes and structure;
c. Council budgets and staff resourcing to support elected officials.
4. Ensure that this information is provided to future candidates to provide a representation of the work necessary to effectively accomplish the role.
Her motion states that the city’s population has grown by nearly 18 per cent since 2013 from 90,417 to 106,550 in 2023 and there is a need to review the workload, expectations and compensation for council members as well as associated resourcing costs “to provide clarity to potential candidates seeking to run in future municipal elections and to support future elected officials in their work.”
The OBM also states that each council member takes a different approach to governing and they dedicate varying levels of time and service to attend municipal matters. Her motion notes that when information is provided to candidates for office, the mayor’s job is identified as full-time while the time commitment for council members is identified as an average of 20 hours a week “but may be more or less than this, at the discretion of each councillor.”
It also states that councillor roles require an increasing amount of flexibility to meet expectations of residents and effectively attend to council commitments due to council needing more information “to deal with increasingly complex matters, which increases time commitments and requires additional prep and resident engagement time.”
And it adds there is an identified need for council members to engage in advocacy and relationship building efforts with officials from other levels of government including municipal, provincial and federal.
According to the 2022 City of Lethbridge salary disclosure list, the mayor’s annual compensation is listed at $130,219 while councillors make $53,349. The list also notes that mayor and council opted for a 10 per cent salary rollback from 2019 levels in 2021.
Council will also be asked to give first reading to Bylaw 6409, a land use bylaw amendment regarding 3690 36 St. N. which is to allow additional land uses on the parcel beyond what is presently allowed under the current Heavy Industrial district. The amendment would change the land use classification to Direct Control from Heavy Industrial.
A report to council says construction of a building on the parcel for the industrial production of cannabis was started in 2018 but it was never finished and has since been sold to the present applicant who is completing the building and attracting tenants.
Council will also be asked to give three readings to Bylaw 6453, a bylaw to amend Bylaw 6431 which removed the City Clerk as head of FOIP and appointed the City Manager instead. Bylaw 6431, says the submission to council, referred to Bylaw 6356 when it should have referred to Bylaw 6099.
There are also 11 committee reports on the consent agenda for council to address including a proposed donation of land by the Chinese League Society to the City for use as a pocket park.
Another item on that list is a recommendation of the Economic and Finance Standing Policy Committee on a fee-for-service cost benefit analysis.
22-21
Let me see if this is correct. Council goes about a re-organization whereby they establish a bunch of committees, up until now, we did without, overloads themselves and then wants better compensation. Can’t make that up. Then when they down vote at a committee meeting they send it to council anyway for “further consideration”. Which basically means it will get passed there. So the “system” requires two kicks at the cat, established by council and now they want to be paid for their work. Self perpetuating pay checks and now one of them wants to get a golden handshake, which of course they will down vote at committee, send it to council for “consideration” and then sign the cheque. Can you say “self serving”. You all signed up for the “public servant” job. Be a servant.
Right on, Buckwheat!
Do any councilors also have their spouses and children working at city hall?
I believe the committees idea was for members to deep dive into the facts and data on a particular issue,to spread out the homework involved in doing the councilor job. . Some councilors are up to the task. However when there are 3-4 councilors on a committee and 2 vote no and 2 vote yes- who wins? That could mean that 2-3 councilors are approving or calling the shots on an issue that effects the whole city. As when or if they go to the whole council for consideration – don’t forget the rest of council may not be up to speed on the details. Lots may get lost in translation or on the particular slant or comprehension abilities of a particular councilor- scary. The other councilors who have had their homework on other committees may have to rely too much on the abilities of other councilors on other committees to see the forest for the trees.
I may consider full time and perhaps fewer councilors if I felt confident that more qualified and less self serving councilors actually got elected. Some, not all, lack backbone and ability to see beyond the next election. Those who can’t qualify for much else or want to run for mayor some day, so they have a strong need to get reelected, may not want to stick their necks out. One councilor in particular is very careful about their image and tries hard to not rock any boats. That Councilor is very careful to only get quoted on the easy stuff.
Priorities…
I applaud all the hard work that has been done by some of the members of Council and the some of the committee members who I know are working hard for our city. There are some on Committees and on Council who should consider for the good of the community, it is time for them to step down and allow others who are full of energy and the will to act in the citizens best interests, instead of some of the non-profits as well.
We have allowed too many ‘experts’ destroy our cities with their bad policies that cost our taxpayers billions. By this, our leaders have all had to work harder to come up with plans to counter the impacts to our cities, businesses and neighbourhoods.
Are you aware how many of these committees, in one way or another, deal with the impacts to the city from the opioid crisis and the related issues?
Fire/EMS/police have all had to increase staff and equipment and deal with burn-out from all the overtime needed to keep up. Clean Sweep has a monumental task of cleaning up the garbage, bio-hazards, graffiti, etc., left by the addicts/hookers/drug dealers. Other city departments deal with the constant repairs to city infrastruture from this same group whether it is fixing washrooms damaged by this group, or doors/windows, garbage receptacles, removing trees damaged, benches and tables damaged/burned, etc.
Then, with all of this, there are all of the non-profits for these issues the city deals with, that needs meetings to communicate concerns.
This is itself is a massive undertaking . . . but, . . . then there is the main reason we have Council and administrators . . . Governing, representing and running this city!
Some committees are not functioning the way they were conceived . . . I get this and so they need a review! Some we do not need! Some need changes in the steps before concerns are brought to Council, instead of going throught the SPC first!
I agree that we need a review . . . but if so . . . we want to see changes made that will benefit the citizens as a whole, not special interest groups!
Agree,ewingbt. Plus it does appear as though there is too much duplication of services within the nonprofits. Perhaps, cutting down on the repeat bureaucracy could cut costs?
I concur change is required. As a downtown business owner, opening the Supervised Drug Consumption Site cost me thousands of dollars in valuable revenue and some council members wouldn’t tune in and understand the serious impact to our community, and completely supported it and other expensive harm reduction programs which harmed our downtown and my business.
They need to find a new job, allow the remaining council members who have agreed with most of the citizens, including the closing the Supervised Drug Consumption Site and let those who see the right path do their job, a job most of the citizens want.
It is also necessary to retire some of the deadwood in administration who supported those operations and continue to obstruct positive change. This summer has been the worst ever for criminals on downtown streets, who now all carry knives, chains, homemade spears, pipes, and, as one commenter showed me in a photo, a gun.
If the general public were truly aware of what takes place overnight on our downtown streets and what downtown businesses face when they arrive in the morning, with employees sometimes running for their work entrances or waiting in their cars for some time waiting for threats to pass or police to arrive, they would be mad as HELL!
Who is in control? It seems the crooks are!
Yes by all means, let’s do a COMPLETE review and get rid of those who are stopping progress in ending this madness on our streets!
I would note that I am completely against a Ward system! Anyone who has had to fight for changes understand why!
If that person doesn’t agree with you, even if it will benefit the community as a whole, you get nowhere!
Example: Fighting to end the carnage downtown on our streets found little help from our MLA . . . we had to use the MLA East to have our concerns heard in Edmonton and action taken!
Having one person looking after your zone will not benefit the community as a whole!
============ Some details of the Act Council follows ==============
To carry out these roles, the Municipal Government Act (MGA) provides the following:
General duties of councillors [s. 153] Councillors have the following duties:
-a) to consider the welfare and interests of the municipality as a whole and to bring to council’s attention anything that would promote the welfare or interests of the municipality;
-a.1) to promote an integrated and strategic approach to intermunicipal land use planning and service delivery with neighbouring municipalities;
-b) to participate generally in developing and evaluating the policies and programs of the municipality;
-c) to participate in council meetings and council committee meetings and meetings of other bodies to which they are appointed by the council;
-d) to obtain information about the operation or administration of the municipality from the chief administrative officer or a person designated by the chief administrative officer;
-e) to keep in confidence matters discussed in private at a council or council committee meeting until discussed at a meeting held in public;
-e.1) to adhere to the code of conduct established by the council under section 146.1(1);
-f) to perform any other duty or function imposed on councillors by the MGA or any other enactment or by the council.
Your job as a councillor is to work with other council members to set the overall direction of the municipality in your role as a policy-maker. The policies that council sets are the guidelines for administration “to follow” as it handles the operations of the municipality.
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We do need a review and we do need some change! Important issues are not being dealt with in a timely manner!