Town of Battleford council shown at Monday's online meeting. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Out of scope employees

Town council approves salary increases while some members opposed

Mar 17, 2021 | 2:29 PM

The Town of Battleford council engaged in a lengthy discussion before approving some salary increases for a number of out-of-scope employees at Monday’s meeting.

Some council members were opposed to a higher two per cent increase for several of the management positions cited. But the majority ended up approving CAO Ash Alam’s recommendations in the vote process.

Mayor Ames Leslie stepped out for the discussion and vote on the museum manager and deputy fire chief out-of-scope employee positions proposed increases due to a conflict of interest.

Council approved a two per cent salary increase for Fred Light Museum manager Bernadette Leslie each for 2020 and 2021. Deputy fire chief Geoff Thompson received a one per cent salary increase each for 2020 and 2021.

The CAO indicated the total salary increase value for these out-of-scope employees is $1,830 yearly, which was included in the budget.

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Councillors Shelley Boutin-Gervais and David George spoke up during the discussion about the two per cent increases as they believed the out-of-scope town staff should receive the same increases as the in-scope (CUPE member) employees.

Boutin-Gervais questioned having a higher two per cent increase for the manager’s position.

“I’m actually not in favor of giving the managers that wage increase higher than what in-scope is,” she said. “I value every employee that’s with the town. So if they got one one per cent, then the managers should be getting one per cent.”

She said the town has excellent managers and excellent in-scope employees, and does not think there should be a difference in how they are paid when it comes to giving wage increases.

George said he had a bit of an issue regarding the higher salary increases as well.

“They are not jiving with what we have negotiated with unions,” he said.

Councillor Doug Laing said he is in favour of the increases proposed, since they were budgeted for.

Ultimately council approved the recommendations in a 3-2 vote in favour.

For the second vote, council approved salary increases for six positions for out-of-scope employees.

Two per cent increases each for 2020 and 2021 were approved for utility manager Aubrey Whittleton, public works manager Eric Bilanski, parks and recreation manager Jordan Schechtel, and executive assistant Noreen Hoffart.

One per cent increases each for 2020 and 2021 were approved for public safety officer Ross MacAngus, and finance supervisor Gail Adams, a contract position.

For the financial impact, the total salary remuneration increase value for these out-of-scope employees is $12,686 yearly, which was included in the budget.

The CAO said in his report the town is currently running below the budgeted salary as it did not spend any salary for the finance manager for four months and the community planner for one month while the positions were vacant.

Boutin-Gervais was again opposed to the higher increase of two per cent for the management positions, saying it hasn’t been done this way in the past.

“To my knowledge, town managers have never been given a higher wage increase than the in-scope employees that they manage,” she said. “We value all employees. To me, we value them all the same. I don’t care if you are a manager. I don’t care if you are the person that is driving a Zamboni. I think you all deserve the same wage increase.”

Boutin-Gervais went on to say that she is very disappointed and finds it shameful since this isn’t how the situation was handled in the past.

Mayor Ames Leslie said sometimes it’s difficult to see that management positions have higher responsibility and risk than some other employees.

“We have had discussions around this council table for years about how our management team is not up to the same level of pay scale as similar managers in communities of our size. We are looking for ways to slowly bring them up to that level,” he added. “I think this is a way, because it is budgeted and will not set the taxpayers back any money from what council has been budgeted from last year to this year.”

After a long discussion, council approved the recommendations in a 4-2 vote in favour. In the recorded vote, Mayor Ames Leslie, and councillors Judy Pruden, Kevin Russell, and Doug Laing voted in favour, while councillors Shelley Boutin-Gervais and David George were opposed.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW