UPDATE: Vernon mayoral candidate responds after accused of ‘desperate grand standing’

Anderson argues while some councillors need the committee meeting pay to cover certain costs such as child care, full-time mayors making close to $100,000 in regular pay do not. He was critical of current mayor Victor Cumming for submitting bills for what Anderson says will amount to about $10,000 in committee pay over the last four years, while saying he and most other councillors, have not sought the extra payments.

Cumming fired back today by issuing a news release to Vernon Matters with the title ‘Desperate Grand Standing,’ accusing Anderson of trying to score political points.

“The remuneration package for council, including mayor, was set by the former council and the current council has just set the remuneration package for the next council,” Cumming said. “Obviously, Mr. Anderson is grand standing, as we all know there is an election campaign in progress. When it comes to throwing rocks, it is something you should not do if you live in a glass house.”

Cumming said the amount paid to each of councillor and the mayor is publicly reported in a council meeting, as per legislation and in the city’s annual report.

“There are no secrets,” Cumming said.

He said all council members, including Anderson, had the full four years to raise any concerns about the council pay policy, and Anderson also had four years prior to that during his first term.

Cumming said former mayor Rob Sawatzky presented council with recommendations from a citizens’ committee on remuneration on Aug. 15, 2022, with council voting 6-0 to adopt those suggestions including the committee pay.

“Mr. Anderson chose not to attend that afternoon session of regular council,” Cumming said. “Subsequently, he also chose to provide a notice of motion indicating his dissatisfaction with the decision of council regarding committee pay to all of council. He withdrew that motion yesterday during the regular council meeting, eliminating a potential discussion by council of the topic.”

Cumming maintains Anderson chose to spend his time during the council meeting to prepare and circulate a press release which Cumming said was “switching his displeasure with the remuneration policy to just committee pay for the mayor.”

“Interesting use of his time during a council meeting,” Cumming remarked.

Under the policy, council members receive $130 to attend city committee meetings.

The extra pay members get to attend Regional District of North Okanagan and Greater Vernon Advisory Committee meetings is covered by RDNO policy.

Cumming, Anderson and Erik Olesen are running for Vernon mayor in the Oct. 15 election.

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Editor’s Note: Scott Anderson issued the following news release on Wednesday, Sept. 28 in response to Victor Cumming’s news release on committee pay.

Scott Anderson Clarifies Committee Pay
September 28, 2022
Vernon BC – Mayoral candidate Scott Anderson, a two term Vernon city councillor, addresses misconceptions about double dipping with committee pay.

I’ve heard that some members of the community are not sure how committee pay works or why it’s there.

1. Committee pay was a program instituted well over a decade ago to help economically disadvantaged part-time councillors recoup pay for missed work and pay for extra expenses like childcare. This allows people from all economic and ability brackets to apply for the position of councillor.

2. Committee pay was never envisioned as a means to increase an already generous mayoral salary. The mayor is already paid for full time work, therefore there is no disruption to an outside workday, and no reason to claim it.

3. Committee pay is not an automatic stipend. In order to receive committee pay, a member of Council must fill out an attendance form manually, and submit it to payroll. This is an intentional act by the recipient and not a passive entitlement.

4. Almost no councillors during the last few terms submitted claim forms for committee pay. This omission was mainly on moral grounds, because community volunteers who attend the same committees receive no compensation for doing the same work. Last month they were offered a gift certificate of $250 for a four year term on council, slightly over the amount Victor Cumming received for attending two committee meetings in a week, but before that, there was no compensation at all.

5. Both councillors and the mayor attend numerous committees. Only the mayor and one other councillor ask for extra pay.

6. No mayor has asked for committee pay until this term. Because the mayor is already paid for full time work, there is no reason to be paid yet again for doing part of the job.

“It’s unfortunate that Victor responded to the revelation of double dipping with bluster instead of an apology,” said Anderson. “He says there have been four years to address this, but the
revelation just became public through the media a couple of weeks ago. Who would have thought that a mayor would take advantage of a fund meant to help the poor and disadvantaged?”
“I’m actually a little embarrassed for Victor,” said Anderson. “When Castanet revealed the payments, Victors responded with a claim that he did ‘nothing wrong,’ but what he really
means is that he’s done nothing illegal. The community will have to decide whether a mayor making well over $100,000 in Vernon and area compensation is right or wrong to raid a fund
reserved for single working mothers and economically disadvantaged councillors.”

“Victor has had to be reined in by council more than once during the past four-year term,” said Anderson. “But this is a new level of embarrassment for everyone on council. It’s things like this
that make people think politicians are only doing this job for the money.”

(End of news release)

by Pete McIntyre

UPDATE: Vernon mayoral candidate responds after accused of ‘desperate grand standing’

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