Mayerthorpe councillors’ pay raised after a town committee is scrapped

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As of Jan. 1, Mayerthorpe town councillors make $175 per regular meeting under five hours, up from the $145 rate set in 2022.

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Council made the change during the Dec. 16, 2024 meeting, with Mayor Janet Jabush saying this tied in with the abolition of council’s policies and priorities committee.

“Those (regular) meetings might be longer and there’s going to be more preparation involved for a regular council meeting now,” Jabush told the Mayerthorpe Freelancer.

“The things we would have been doing at a (committee) meeting are now being done during the regular council meeting, which means our agendas might be bigger.”

Despite the bump in per diem pay, Jabush said she expects the adjustments made on Dec. 16 will positively affect the overall council budget.

Councillors will lose the $85 they made each on all policies and priorities committee meetings, she said.

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The policies and priorities committee involved council members and made recommendations to council ahead of regular meetings, but decisions couldn’t be made at the committee meetings themselves.

Jabush noted other municipalities (including Whitecourt) have similar committees, and while it might work in other places, questions arose about its usefulness in Mayerthorpe.

After Chris Leggett was appointed the town’s chief administrative officer (CAO) in 2024, he asked questions about the committee when looking at it with “fresh eyes,” Jabush said.

Previously, she said she had never questioned the committee’s existence.

“When you are assembling the entirety of council to have conversations about things they can’t make binding decisions on, it seems counterintuitive,” Jabush told the Freelancer.

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“It seemed like a poor use of time.”

Citizens could also address council during committee meetings, but they might have to wait a month to do so if the committee meeting was recently held, Jabush said.

Now, she said citizens will be able to address council at regular meetings, which are held every second and fourth Monday.

Additionally, Jabush said the town will save time of administrative staff, who have to prepare agenda packages and minutes. 

As was the case in 2022, Mayerthorpe still doesn’t have a committee of citizens to recommend council remuneration rates.

Jabush said the town has tried to attract citizens to join such a committee, but it has never received any interest.

Instead, the town looks at remuneration in similar-sized neighbouring communities such as Onoway, she said.

On Dec. 16, Coun. Esther Sonnenberg’s motion to scrap the policies and priorities committee was carried unanimously, with all councillors present.

Coun. Sandy Morton’s motion to adopt the new per diem pay rate was carried with only Coun. Anna Greenwood opposed, according to the minutes.

 bquarin@postmedia.com

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