The draft 2016 statement of financial information (SOFI) for the District of Sechelt was released at the June 21 council meeting and it held a surprise relating to severance.
The SOFI states, “There was one severance agreement under which payment commenced between the District of Sechelt and its non-unionized employees during the fiscal year 2016. This agreement provided for eight months of compensation.”
According to corporate officer Jo-Anne Frank, the name of the person (or persons) who received severance could not be released because “being a human resources associated issue, there’s a privacy issue there.”
When the district was asked to specify the amount, Mayor Bruce Milne told Coast Reporter it was $73,031.68.
The total wasn’t provided in the SOFI documents, but Frank said the district was required under legislation to provide the figure as it could have been sought through a freedom of information request.
Another big ticket staffing-related item in the 2016 SOFI was the cost of contracting services rendered by Mike Vance (acting director of development services) and Gerry Van Der Wolf (interim corporate officer). Vance was paid $159,221 for his services in 2016 and Van Der Wolf, who left the job in June 2016, received $62,112.95.
Of the full-time employees on the district’s payroll last year, former chief administrative officer Tim Palmer made the most at $154,563.08 while manager of engineering services Sanath Bandara earned $101,610.29 for the year.
On council, Mayor Bruce Milne made the most with a remuneration of $42,277.64. He also expensed $10,486.75 in 2016.
Deputy mayor Alice Lutes made the second highest salary on council with $25,141.82. She claimed $3,294.33 in expenses last year.
Other councillors receive different amounts of pay based on the types of health benefits they receive, according to Milne.
Here’s what Sechelt councillors made and claimed as expenses last year:
• Darren Inkster made $24,787.40, expensed $5,536.29.
• Douglas Wright made $23,728.20, expensed $2,355.93.
• Darnelda Siegers made $20,192.08, expensed $4,331.82.
• Michael Shanks made $19,459.84, expensed $2,690.62.
• Noel Muller: made $18,559.84, expensed $1,735.14.
