Committee cheques reconsidered

By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: January 09, 2009 4:00 PM

Taxpayer-funded paycheques could be coming to an end for members of some City of Vernon committees. Coun. Bob Spiers will ask his colleagues Monday to eliminate honourariums for directors sitting on the Captain Bailey Way Corporation and the Hesperia Development Corporation. “I have no problem covering expenses but honourariums are something we need to re-examine and decide whether they are necessary,” said Spiers. Both corporations are owned by the city and the mandate of the Captain Bailey Way group is to pursue residential units and airplane hangars at the airport. The Hesperia corporation is looking at how best to develop commercial and residential uses on city-owned land on Longacre Drive.

One of Spiers’ concerns is that the directors for the two corporations are paid for their activities while members of other city committees provide their services for free. “We are a community of volunteers and a lot of people come forward and do good work and don’t get compensation,” he said. Among those committees are the affordable housing advisory committee, the environmental advisory committee, the heritage advisory committee and the land advisory committee. People who also serve as auxiliary police officers or volunteer with the community policing unit are also not paid.

Spiers anticipates there will be significant discussion around the council table about honourariums Monday, and if the decision is made to keep them, he wants the ability to set the fees taken away from the corporation directors.“It should be the shareholders that set the rates and the shareholders are the city and the city taxpayers,” he said.