Beiseker Village council once again discussed the charge out rate structure currently in place for council to charge for time spent in meetings.
On May 11, Mayor Ray Courtman made a motion to reduce the charge out rate, which is currently $100 for up to four hours and $200 for up to eight hours, by 25 per cent but the motion was defeated.
Councillor Warren Wise said council should be looking at charging on an hourly basis for time spent in meetings rather than current wording that would allow a person to charge $100 for a 20-minute meeting if they so choose to.
“Basing something on up to four hours doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “That means there is no difference between a one hour meeting and a four hour meeting.”
The motion, he said, would not change the current intent of the charge rate structure, which Courtman added was originally developed by an ad hoc committee at an arms length away from council, but rather alter it to fit more accordingly to a $25 per hour rate.
“Rather than say we reduce the structure by 25 per cent, I think we should clarify we get paid by time spent,” Wise said.
Councillor Dave McKenzie was for the change, but against the proposal that councillors be paid for their time spent traveling to meetings, as there is already a 52-cent per kilometre mileage allowance in place.
Deputy Mayor Al Henuset said the change would be more work to fix a problem he does not believe exists.
“I think a lot of us are using our own discretion of (the amount of time) we want to put in (and charge for),” he said. “I don’t think we have to change the way we are doing things.”
The motion was defeated 3-2.
Irregular garbage day
Irregular garbage day, when public works would pick up trash that would not fit in a regular garbage trucks, will not be happening in Beiseker this year after council agreed a new approach was needed.
Instead, bins will be available at the public works yard and will be open for residents to throw garbage away free of charge — with the exception of a fee on refrigerators — from Thursday to Sundays in October, with dates yet to be determined by council.
Last year, Courtman said irregular garbage day took a lot more man-hours and lasted longer than the Village expected.
The exact dates and times the bins will be open to the public will be made available on the Village website and via the Village’s electronic signboard.
“Hopefully that will work better this year,” Courtman said.
Student job
A grant used to keep a part-time student employed at the public library was rejected and council has decided to re-budget the Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) operation money to keep the position available.
Jo Lambert, CAO for Beiseker, said the Village budgeted for MSI operating money for $19,000 but actually received about $37,000, so there was extra money available to save the job and hours at the library.
“Budgets aren’t written in stone,” she said. “They never can be because my crystal ball is faulty.”
