While Thompson city council’s July 16 meeting was packed full of housekeeping items, its members didn’t get a chance to go over arguably the most controversial resolution on the agenda.
Originally, council was supposed to vote on whether or not to approve a 1.25 per cent salary increase for its executive staff, which amounts to around $25,000 from the period of July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019.
However, this resolution was taken off of Monday’s agenda and tabled for further internal discussion leading up to their next regular meeting on Aug. 13.
“It will be discussed on Monday with the finance committee and our auditor,” said Mayor Dennis Fenske. “And then we’ll have an in-camera on our August meeting and [it’ll be up] for resolution in the August meeting as well.”
According to a memo written by city manager Gary Ceppetelli, this executive salary boost is simply mirroring increases that United Steelworkers 8223-02 and 8223-12 members receive due to their current Collective Bargaining Agreements.
However, regardless of this reasoning, this resolution has already been subject to controversy, with some saying that such salary increases are not acceptable during Thompson’s current economic plight and only months before the upcoming municipal election.
In a letter submitted to the Thompson Citizen, local business owner Volker Beckmann argued that this money would be better spent funding initiatives like the summer day camp programs that were cut from the city’s 2018−19 budget.
“It’s time for our community leaders and city management to show some fiduciary responsibility and be accountable to the taxpayer,” he wrote. “Council can defer any increase in spending until after the election, let the public have their say, and let a new council make that decision. That would be the responsible approach to take.”
Council also decided to postpone voting on a resolution to approve certain changes to executive staff terms and conditions, such as reclassifying the positions of Norplex Pool manager and director of public works.
In any event, these issues should be resolved at Thompson city council’s next regular meeting, which is scheduled to take place Monday, Aug. 13 at City Hall.
