Slash Metro Vancouver committees, meeting pay by half says PoCo mayor

Port Coquitlam’s mayor is proposing taking a sledgehammer to meetings and compensation for the Metro Vancouver board of directors.

Brad West introduced a motion at the regional district on Friday that would slash the number of Metro Vancouver board committees in half.

It would also cut the stipend board members get for attending meetings in half, and eliminate the current boost in pay they get if the meeting runs over four hours.

West is also calling for a hard cap on the pay board members get and the elimination of additional stipends the board chair and vice chair get.

“It’s easy to say these aren’t rules and practices the current board created, these are things we inherited. And that is true,” West told Global News.

“But I don’t think it excused us from the responsibility to do something in the here and now.”

West’s proposal comes as the Metro Vancouver Regional District faces intense scrutiny over governance and spending.

Since 2019, the fee for Metro Vancouver Board members to attend committee meetings has climbed from $397 to $534. That fee doubles if the meeting goes over four hours.

The regional district has also faced recent criticism over spending on international travel, catered networking events and the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant which has seen its budget balloon to nearly $4 billion.

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Delta city councillor Dylan Kruger, who represents his municipality on the board, said he believes the regional district should go further by eliminating stipends and paying board directors a flat fee.

“Let’s kill this incentive to call special meetings … it doesn’t happen in the private sector,” he said.

“Metro Vancouver should not be a gravy train to add additional compensation for elected officials — everybody is here, or should be here, at this table because they want to make this region a better place. ”

The motion also calls for the board to initiate a core service review for the regional district to “identify savings, efficiencies and reductions by examining all departments and service areas, staffing levels, use of contracted services and any other areas as identified by the board, as well as reviewing Metro Vancouver’s role as a regulator.”

Metro Vancouver Board Chair Mike Hurley, meanwhile, has promised a governance review for the regional district.

The Metro Vancouver board will debate West’s motion at its Feb. 28 meeting.