PORT HARDY, B.C. – Port Hardy’s mayor had the final say in eliminating overtime pay for the district’s confidential secretary.
According to the North Island Gazette newspaper, Port Hardy council deadlocked 3-3 on the decision during its Nov. 13 meeting, leaving Mayor Dennis Dugas with the deciding vote.
Dugas voted to support staff’s recommendation to eliminate overtime pay.
On Tuesday, the district put up a job posting for the confidential secretary on its Facebook page.
Dugas told the MyTriportNow.com newsroom that the current secretary is retiring, hence the job opening.
McCarrick’s report shows that Council policy CP5.7 provides a minimum of two overtime hours at time and one-half pay compensation to the confidential secretary for recording evening council meeting minutes.
“This equates to three hours of regular time which the employee may take as pay or banked time to be used as time off at a future date,” it’s noted in the report.
McCarrick’s report shows that CP 5.7 provides a minimum of 20 regular scheduled evening council meetings per year. For these days the minimum amount of time that could be banked is 60 hours. The confidential secretary position is a seven hour per day position therefore the banked time could be taken as an 8.5 additional days off.
McCarrick felt these overtime numbers could be reduced or eliminated by one of the following means:
- Record evening council meetings to be transcribed the following day;
- Employee to work a split-shift on evening council meetings days; or
- Employee work a later-start day on evening council meeting days.
Dugas said eliminating overtime pay is an “operational staff decision in regards to how they implement the people that work in our office.”
“It’s their responsibility to do what’s best for the municipality in regards to how the expenditures are being made. So that’s their job. They’re just doing their job.”
