Valemount to begin review of staff, Council remuneration
By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG
The Village of Valemount is preparing to review staff and Council’s compensation. Council awarded a $16,000 contract to compensation consulting agency Drive OD Ltd at their January 14th meeting to carry out the review.
In a delegation to Council, Drive OD consultant Julie Case outlined how she reviews compensation practices for local governments, and the role that elected officials play in the process. It is important for local governments to have a formalized policy on staff compensation reviews so they can be transparent with residents, Case said.
Additionally, Case said elected officials typically give staff direction on which communities to use in their review. Case gathers market data by examining the same staff position across a handful of similar municipalities, then uses that data to suggest how much her client should pay for that position in their own municipality. Comparison communities are selected based on population and the government’s annual expenses, she said.
“What we need your insight on tonight is: who does Valemount compare itself to?” she told Council.
Case identified twelve comparison communities, ranging in population from about 1300 to 2400, for Valemount’s compensation review: Radium Hot Springs, Fort St. James, Nakusp, Keremeos, Burns Lake. Warfield, Barriere, Harrison Hot Springs, 100 Mile House, Fruitvale, Ucluelet and Clearwater. She plans on sending a questionnaire to each community asking for salary data on 15-20 staff positions, then summarizing the data and making recommendations for Valemount staff – a process which will take about three to four months, Case said.
Council moved to receive the delegation.
Councillor Pete Pearson asked if a community’s median income is factored into whether or not it makes an appropriate comparison community. A community with a similar size but higher median income would have a larger tax base to work with and may have higher-paid staff, he said.
Case said she does not retroactively adjust her data based on a community’s tax base, and said she believes the comparison communities are fair.
Mayor Owen Torgerson said he had a similar question to Pearson, and thanked Case for her presentation.
Later in the meeting, Council approved a $16,000 contract with Drive OD to conduct a compensation review for the Village.
“I am confident that we will get results,” Torgerson said.
Pearson said he is concerned about the additional workload a compensation review will place on Village staff. According to the staff report on the contract, Village staff will conduct a “considerable” amount of work for the review.
“Staff will be involved in drafting a [compensation] philosophy and policy, but the actual review I would really like to leave with an independent body,” said Yanciw. “The work around the entire compensation piece will include staff time for the policy work and so on, but not for the actual comparison.”
“I understand that part, but… we have a lot of things going on, and a lot of people wearing many hats,” Pearson said. “That’s my only concern about it.”
Staff also recommended approving the aforementioned 12 communities for the staff compensation review.
Councillor Hollie Blanchette raised concerns about the larger populations of the comparison communities: for example, Ucluelet has a population of 2,066, and Clearwater has a population of 2,388, putting them at around twice the size of Valemount, with a population of 1,052. Additionally, four of the communities selected are incorporated as districts, rather than villages.
“I’m just wondering if this is fair,” she said. “Are there not any communities more [similar] to our size?”
Torgerson said the bigger communities likely employ more staff, rather than paying the same number of staff a higher salary.
Blanchette also wondered whether communities’ annual expenses were taken into account when selecting comparison communities.
“One reason to go the same size or bigger is if we go smaller, we start to not have comparison positions,” Yanciw said. “There isn’t a clear correlation between [population] size and salary.”
Councillor Hugo Mulyk said it is difficult to find appropriate comparison communities for a municipality of Valemount’s size.
“I can see your challenge in trying to do this fairly and equitably,” he said.
Council unanimously approved adopting the 12 comparison communities.
