Regional District of Kootenay Boundary directors have voted themselves $400 per year in wellness pay and increased the amount they receive to attend meetings by $20. They will also have access to an employee and family assistance program that provides mental health supports.
“Directors and elected officials are getting treated worse and worse and worse all the time,” said Christina Lake director Grace McGregor, who brought the idea of wellness pay to the table. “I believe we need to offer a chance for them to join a gym or go see somebody or do whatever to keep their sanity a little bit better than it might be.”
McGregor said she has been “on the receiving end of some pretty bad threats over 20 years” and while she doesn’t plan to seek re-election next year, she feels for those who are running again or who might consider letting their names stand for office.
“It makes us look a lot better if we offer that help than if we don’t,” she said.
McGregor noted RDKB staff have access to a gym, as well as a pension plan and health benefits, but directors do not. Some municipal directors receive health benefits through their municipalities, but they are not available to rural directors.
Warfield director Frank Marino said he was concerned the board has already increased monthly stipends for municipal directors and the chair to bring them to the median of similar regional districts and that the RDKB’s per capita cost of governance is already among the highest.
“We have to be careful about how much more we increase our compensation,” he said. “All we’re doing is pushing ourselves above that median even further. I don’t know if that looks good.”
Wellness pay would come to $5,200 if claimed by all 13 directors, although some directors indicated it was unlikely they would take advantage of it.
According to a report from chief financial officer Farhad Hossain, directors currently get $108 allowances for each meeting they attend. Each director attends an average of 62 meetings a year, so the extra $20 for meeting allowances is expected to work out to another $1,240 per director, for a total of $16,120.
Along with the previously-approved increases, the extra remuneration comes to another $46,109, or $3,547 per director, an eight per cent increase, which Marino noted was higher than the inflationary rate of 2.4 per cent. Marino said he wasn’t in favour of the wellness pay, but did support directors having access to the employee and family assistance program.
Earlier this year directors also adopted a revised policy, which increased their allowance for meals and incidentals from $100 to $132.
Fruitvale director Bill Wenman said he supported the higher meeting stipend, particularly for West Boundary directors who have to travel to the RDKB’s headquarters in Trail.
“If I was in Greenwood or Midway and had to come here for every meeting, I don’t know if I would be on the board,” he said. “I don’t know how they do it.”
Wenman added that the RDKB has saved money by moving its board meetings to afternoons, whereas they used to take place in the evening, and directors would also claim accommodation expenses.
Midway director Richard Dunsdon said the board has also saved money by allowing directors to attend meetings remotely via Teams.
In the end, a motion to adopt all of the changes passed with Marino opposed along with Grand Forks director Everett Baker and Rossland director Andy Morel.
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