Former Maple Ridge city councillor critical of Metro 'gravy train'

A former Maple Ridge city councillor is critical of how much local politicians make for attending meetings as members of the Metro regional district.

Responding to that criticism, the city's mayor says Metro does valuable work, and he welcomes a coming review of its governance model - including pay.

Former councillor Chelsa Meadus echoed other critics who are blasting Metro for its spending habits. Meadus calls the compensation that Metro Vancouver provides to mayors and councillors simply for attending meetings excessive.

"When I was first elected as a councillor, I was shocked to learn that we were paid extra for participating in Metro Vancouver meetings - something I had assumed was part of our elected duties," said Meadus, who served a term on Maple Ridge council ending in 2022.

"If you ever walked into Metro Vancouver's meeting facilities, you might think you were at the UN," she continued. "The setting is extravagant, and beyond the already high remuneration, officials are even provided with catered meals at taxpayer expense.

"This isn't governance - it's a gravy train."

Mayors and councillors who attend committee meetings receive $547 for meetings up to four hours. If the meetings run past four hours, it doubles to $1,094.

She said the high remuneration could make politicians toe the line.

"How likely is an elected official to challenge Metro Vancouver staff when they're being so handsomely compensated to sit at the table?" she asked. "The structure incentivizes compliance rather than accountability."

Meadus would rather see the meetings held on Zoom or some other virtual format, to save money.

Mayor Dan Ruimy said the issue of remuneration is not so straightforward. He said many council members need to miss work in order to attend meetings. What's more, there are thick reports, hundreds of pages, that must be reviewed before the four-hour meeting, and that generally happens on the elected official's own time. So there is no simple per-hour rate to calculate, he said.

"When we get 800-page documents, when do you think we're reading them?" he said. "We often do work at home."

He said it is rare for a meeting to go beyond four hours, in his time it has happened once, and there is no culture of politicians extending meetings to double their stipend.

Ruimy's total remuneration from the city, based on the most recent 2023 Statement of Financial Information, was $136,284 including car allowance. Councillors, who are part time, each made more than $58,000.

That same year, Ruimy was compensated another $25,725 from Metro, where he chairs the housing committee.

He supports the call for reviews of Metro.

"A governance review will help us understand, 'are we doing this the right way,'" said Ruimy.

Ruimy noted Meadus did not raise the issue of Metro pay when she was on city council.

"Was it excessive when she was going to Metro?"

And Ruimy supports the regional government body in principle, noting that it provides drinking water, wastewater treatment, solid waste management, air quality and other services that would be cumbersome for a single city to handle independently.

"I don't buy the notion that Metro is broken," he said. "Metro does a lot of good work... they do things that small communities don't have the capacity to do on their own. So we have to be careful that we don't throw the baby out with the bathwater."