Town of Sundre council has approved a pay raise for the next council elected this fall.
Effective Jan. 1, councillors will be making an annual salary of $12,500 and the mayor will be making $21,000.
In February, a one per cent cost of living allowance was applied to councillors' annual salaries of $11,932.68 and the mayor's $17,548.02 annual income. That boosted councillors' salaries to $12,052.01 and the mayor's to $17,723.50, which is what they are currently making.
However, at that time, the council remuneration ad hoc committee proposed that councillors make $12,413.91 and the mayor make $18,254.74 annually.
The committee also recommended a change of allowance for attending assigned board, committee and commission in-town and out-of-town meetings, to match the Town of Olds' policy. This excludes serving on a regional body that pays a fee. These recommendations were approved during the Sept. 3 council meeting.
Effective Jan. 1, town staff will receive $40 for the first hour and $20 for every following hour. However, if the meeting is less than four hours, staff will receive $90 and $175 for a full day. They are currently receiving $175 after four hours.
Changes to several council remuneration policies were discussed during the governance meeting on Sept. 9 and were to be considerd for approval during yesterday's council meeting.
Under policy C-004 employee process, a new employee appointed to a regular full-time position is required to serve a three-month probationary period. There would also be the possibility of an additional three-month probationary term.
Directors and managers are required to serve a six-month probationary period.
Coun. Myron Thompson said the probationary period should be one year, but Coun. Pat Toone and Mayor Annette Clews said it should be six months for all employees.
Clews made a motion to move the policy forward with the probationary period changed to six months and an additional term of however long deemed fit for the individual.
Coun. Tony Jordan was opposed and Coun. Chris Vardas was absent from the meeting.
Several other policies were discussed and moved forward including C-003 employee selection, C-002A council code of ethical conduct, C-008 hours of work, C-010 employee benefits, C-011 pay period, C-012 employee benefits, C-013 benefits while on disability, C-014 sick leave entitlements and C-016 holidays.
During the council meeting on Sept. 3, council discussed and approved several changes to council remuneration policies.
Six policies were approved, including C-006 discrimination clause, A-001 council remuneration, C-007 attendance, C-015 worker's compensation supplement, C-018 court leave and C-019 maternity/paternity leave.
Council also discussed policy C-020 leave of absence-bereavement, but ended up tabling it. Coun. Pat Toone made the motion to approve the policy and Coun. Myron Thompson was opposed. He was opposed because he felt that more time would be needed in a case of bereavement leave for immediate family.
Under the policy, three days will be granted around the date of the funeral and two days are granted for travel time if a long distance is involved.
Wanda Watson-Neufeld, the town's director of corporate services, suggested that nieces and nephews be part of the immediate family definition.
Toone rescinded her motion and asked that the policy be brought back to council at a later date with the change made.
A total of seven policies were reviewed and six were approved during the meeting.
The discussion regarding the policies was originally scheduled to take place during the July 8 governance meeting. However, there was some miscommunication with town administration as to how the information was presented to council. This caused councillors to be missing a portion of the information they needed for a decision.
The discussion was then scheduled to take place during the governance meeting on Aug. 12, but Doug Wright, the town's interim chief administrative officer, said he did not have time to review all of the policies before the meeting. He said that he planned to send councillors each policy as he reviews it.
Council then tabled the discussion to September.
