City looks to divvy up costs of NORD directors

By NATALIE BANK Friday, September 7, 2007 http://www.dailycourier.ca/stories.php?id=63243

The City of Vernon has three wishes regarding recent pay hikes for Regional District of North Okanagan directors.Council forwarded three recommendations to the board, which was read as information at NORD‘s regular meeting Wednesday. Council asked NORD to consider delaying implementation of remuneration increases to Jan. 1, 2008, having each local government be responsible for the costs of their members on the NORD board and that the chair‘s pay be split evenly among the board‘s communities. In August, NORD increased the salary for the directors to $6,240, up from $5, 994 for the five electoral area directors and from $1, 523 for the eight municipal directors.

Director Juliette Cunningham said she was opposed to the raises from the start. “I think the raises are excessive and I do question the amount in relation to the amount of work we do as directors.” She said there‘s no comparison to the time she spends as a city councillor as she does as NORD director, where she really only has to read an agenda, research issues and attend meetings. “If each council feels the position is worth that kind of money, they could compensate their councillors for that.” A pay increase for directors was first discussed last January when the board debated the disparity in pay between directors, said chair Jerry Oglow. “I think the consensus is, and I subscribe to this, is we don‘t care what the remuneration is as long as it‘s the same for a municipal director as it is for a rural director.”
After surveying the average remuneration for directors in other regional districts in B.C., the board began determining, and later passing a bylaw for, its own salary
increases.

Oglow said he‘s not in favour of each NORD community paying for its directors on the board. “If each municipality or rural area is going to be responsible for their cost for providing service...why do we have a regional district?” He said the group comes together to share resources as well as costs and if that‘s being dismantled, the district‘s advantage is lost.