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. 3
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