Still want say on Stouffville council salaries, folks?

Stouffville Sun-Tribune
February 6, 2014
By Jim Mason

Rumours that Doo Doo the Clown will become deputy mayor of Whitchurch-Stouffville are, apparently, without substance.

Disregard all of those images online of this town’s favourite clown and the only person to at least unofficially declare his name will be on the ballot for mayor Oct. 27, Councillor Phil Bannon.

You can get your own photographs of the pair at the annual winter carnival Mr. Bannon hosts Saturday at Musselman’s Lake.

We don’t always agree with Councillor Bannon’s politics. We do like one of his most recent moves. Sort of.

Flashback two years ago. Town councillors were under heavy attack for proposing pay hikes of more than 40 per cent for themselves and Mayor Wayne Emmerson.

They were playing catchup following years of neglect, they argued. All but Councillor Richard Bartley were in their third term.

Much of the public didn’t see it that way, filling my inbox with an unprecedented storm of letters to the editor. Local politicians were copied on many of the missives.

“Taxpayers, some unemployed and others living on fixed incomes, couldn’t fathom the proposed hikes. Others want a more transparent, public process when it comes to politicians giving themselves pay hikes,” read a Sun-Tribune editorial.

Things got testy, in and out of the council chambers.

The Toronto media even took notice.

“...the execution turned out to have a number of major flaws, one being the absence of an effective mechanism to fully vet the proposal,” Councillor Ken Ferdinands said in 2012.

Council eventually backed down, passing pay hikes of less than half of what had been proposed.

Normalcy returned. The issue has barely been brought up since.

Until Mr. Bannon went public last fall with his proposal for a citizen committee to review and make recommendations on local council salaries.

Somewhat surprisingly, the plan was shot down last month by the same councillors who dealt with the barrage of taxpayer angst in 2012.

Hopefully, it will be revisited by the next group of councillors, possibly during this fall’s municipal election campaign.

Salary review committees aren’t new, even here in York Region. Councillors, and candidates, should go to school on the report town staff prepared for them. It includes the make-up of other Ontario committees.

Council should think outside of its boxes and the town hall walls. Appointing people already on municipal committees ­— folks likely already known to our politicians — isn’t transparent enough for us.

Other municipalities have human resources experts and former politicians on their review boards. That’s professional inside knowledge. That makes too much sense.

How do you feel about council pay hikes now, Whitchurch-Stouffville? Send me your comments to jmason@yrmg.com