The Citizen, 2015-12-10, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2015.
Meeting length pay needs to be adhered to: Smuck
Continued from page 2
participated in the zone darts in
Lucknow on Saturday. They were
both fortunate to have good days and
finished fourth and fifth for the day.
Team 1 included Ken Bird, Gord
Jacklin, Ron Schmidt and Eric Ross
and team 2, Ryan Shaw, Mark
Campbell, Tyler Verbeek and Daisy
Schmidt. They will advance to
District play after the new year.
The Zone C 1 Christmas party was
held at the Branch on Sunday
afternoon. It was hosted by Zone
Commander Eric Ross and Deb
hosted. They enjoyed an afternoon
of visiting and then a potluck dinner.
Our Branch suffered another loss
with the passing of Comrade Ken
Graber. He will be missed by his
children Kathy and Ken Jr. and their
families. Ken was a 15-year member
of the Branch. His life will be
celebrated at the Branch on Saturday
with a come-and-go reception from
1-4 p.m. Our sympathies to all.
Branch hosts zone Christmas
Under construction
As shown in this late November photo, the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 218 in Brussels is
undergoing some major construction that will see an addition on the north side of the building
added. The addition will house a lift, storage area, office for the Cadet Corps and accessible
washrooms. Despite the construction, the Branch continues to host events, like the zone
Christmas party. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
Morris-Turnberry Council has
amended the minutes from its final
meeting in November as Councillor
John Smuck felt they didn’t
accurately portray the amount of
time council spent in session.
“We have two meetings here that
say they were over two hours, but
they weren’t; they were shorter,” he
said during council’s Dec. 1
meeting. “We have to get paid for
two hours, not longer, because they
were less than two hours.”
Smuck said, since councillors can
receive two hours pay for a 15-
minute meeting, the policy should
work the other way as well.
Council’s pay for meetings
depends on the length of the
meeting. While not paid by the
minute or the hour, meetings fit into
one of three categories (under two
hours, two to four hours and over
four hours). Smuck felt council
wasn’t being honest with ratepayers
if a meeting was registered for
longer than it should be.
Councillors are paid $72.92 for a
less-than-two hour meeting and
$121.52 for a two-to-four hour
meeting making the difference, per
councillors, $48.60 or $291.60 for
the entire council. Councillors are
paid $182.29 for meetings greater
than four hours.
Administrator Clerk-Treasurer
Nancy Michie said that she decided
to mark it as more than two hours
because some people arrived early
for the meeting which ran from 7:30
p.m. until 9:24 p.m. She also noted
that the second meeting Smuck was
commenting on had already been
adjusted as per his suggestion at an
earlier meeting.
Mayor Paul Gowing said that
some consideration is given, when
setting the amount of time spent at a
meeting, for the time council takes
to prepare and read the agenda and
council package. Smuck disagreed,
stating that is what council members
are given an honorarium for each
year.
“It’s common courtesy to the
ratepayers to have these meetings
recorded as how long they were,”
Smuck said.
Council agreed, and adjusted the
minutes to reflect a less-than-two-
hour meeting.
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Stille Nacht
Students form North Woods Elementary School’s Grade 4 class put their own spin on the
Austrian Christmas classic “Silent Night” during the school’s Christmas concert matinée. Held
on Dec. 7, the concert was called “An Olde-Fashioned Christmas.” From left: Kylynn Fraser,
Tiffany Burrows, Rylieh Bloomfield, Shaylynn Allan-Thorogood, Reed Fischer and Payton
Piper. (Denny Scott photo)
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