A proposal calling for fewer but better-paid council members in the city has been shot down.
Coun. Brent Harris introduced a motion that would reduce the 10-member council to six.
Currently, there are two councillors for each of the four wards and two at-large councillors.
His “Democratic Reform” proposal would have seen the two at-large councillors remain, but just one member for each ward.
Harris also proposed increasing council salaries to a “full-time salary” of $59,000, up from the current $34,500.
But councillors voted against the motion during their most recent regular meeting earlier in September.
Coun. Gary Sullivan said he believes there would need to be a bigger consultation process before he could support a change like this.
“This system that we currently use came into place in 2008, and it came in after the previous council had established a citizen committee to look at and decide, do we want to continue on with 10 at-large councillors, do we want to continue on and change how council is elected,” said Sullivan.
“The citizen committee of the day did all sorts of extensive work and came back and made a recommendation to the council.”
Harris said he would not have been opposed to having some form of committee should the council support his motion.
Deputy Mayor John MacKenzie expressed concern about the increased workload for councillors with fewer of them around the table.
“If I were to take a vacation, there would be absolutely nobody in Ward 2 to do it, whereas if you have two, you can help each other out, you can split the workload,” he said.
Harris had said his proposal would ensure members “can focus on the work of the municipal council, community engagement, and committee work.”
The councillor said this would ensure members “can focus on the work of the municipal council, community engagement, and committee work.”
“Currently, one of the challenges we face for our elected officials is a wide disparity between the output and engagements of councillors who are required to continue to work full-time and work their council business haphazardly and those councillors who are retired and can put in more work,” Harris wrote in a report to council.
“It is difficult enough to imagine running for office, and made all the more difficult if the remuneration doesn’t provide a full-time wage if one is successful in getting elected.”
Harris also proposed bylaw changes that would see the mayor give an annual performance review to each council member. He also wanted the mayor to have the ability to vote on all motions at council, not just in the event of a tie.
In the end, Harris and Coun. Joanna Killen were the only members to support the motion.
