Corp Comm Connects

Richmond Hill council steps in on staff pay raises

Three highest-paid staff each received a $30,000 increase

Yorkregion.com
July 5, 2021
Yoyo Yan

Richmond Hill city council has decided to barge into the issue of increased pay for executive staff, amid questions about the role played by city manager Mary-Anne Dempster. She is currently absent from her job and has not responded to an email from the Liberal for comment, nor would a city spokesperson comment on the reason for her absence.

At a contentious, June 23 council meeting broadcast online, Coun. Tom Muench presented a motion to remove the delegated authority from the city manager to increase pay for city staff in positions at the director level or above, and to have future increases "be brought to council for approval."

Council voted 5-3 to carry the motion with amendments that the delegated authority to increase pay for director-level staff "be brought to council before approval."

Any pay increases at, or above, the director level within the past 12 months will be brought to the next council meeting for review and possible action.

Coun. Carmine Perrelli indicated that three of the city's highest-paid staff have each received an approximate $30,000 yearly pay increase.

At the meeting he said a "15 per cent pay increase is unconscionable during the pandemic," insistently holding up a sign saying "15% Pay Increase" in front of his camera.

An "animated" acting mayor Joe DiPaola threatened to disconnect Perrelli if he wouldn't remove the sign, which triggered a round of heated altercations between Coun. Greg Beros and DiPaola.

City managers and commissioners are the highest-paid municipal employees in Richmond Hill, according to the provincial Sunshine List 2020 and 2021.

However, commissioner of community services Darlene Joslin, attending the meeting as acting city manager, explained that the compensation process was based on a council-approved policy and the city manager was not the one to make decisions on any raises for staff, which are done through the third party Gallagher McDowell Universal job evaluation tool.

Cathy Treacy, the city's human resources director, told council that the city manager sought advice on reviewing the change of commissioners' role before the move to new pay bands for commissioners, based on job re-evaluation, was made effective Nov. 1, 2020.

Treacy told the council that she asked eight municipalities but "none of them gets involved in reviewing individual members of staff's pay."

City spokesperson Kathleen Graver confirmed the city manager does not have the authority to provide any pay increases, nor has the city manager provided pay increases to executive staff.

"Staff pay is determined by following a council-approved compensation policy which ensures the city is compliant with the Pay Equity Act," Graver wrote to the Liberal.

Since she was not at this pertinent meeting, questions remain about the city manager's absence.

"It is ridiculous the city manager is now on 'sick leave.' I believe that she saw the writing on the wall when Muench put an in-camera item on the agenda following Perrelli's survey," a city source, who prefers to remain anonymous, told the Liberal.

"I can confirm under the city manager appointment bylaw, the city manager can appoint someone to act on her behalf during an absence," said Graver.

The amended motion also resolves that a workshop for council regarding pay increase policies take place within six months.

DiPaola, Coun. David West and Coun. Karen Cilevitz voted against the motion.

"We are not into micromanaging who gets the raise and who doesn't, that's the last thing the council should be doing, and in terms of the workshop, the policy is the best practice," said West. "Good governance would dictate that we delegate the authority through a policy to be hands-off."

"But we need to be informed of any pay raise so we wouldn't be embarrassed when residents ask why," said Coun. Castro Liu.