After the news broke that the pay band of the City of Calgary’s chief administration officer (CAO) was increased in a behind-the-doors meeting of city council, questions arose, including from former councillor and mayoral candidate Jeromy Farkas, why such a decision would be made in a confidential meeting. It’s not uncommon for matters of a financial nature, such as salaries or the value of sponsorships of city facilities by private companies to be discussed confidentially. In certain cases, disclosing the numbers weakens the city’s bargaining power to get the best deal possible. "Right now, it's not very easy to go through the city council meetings and actually see disclosure about things like this,” Farkas told Western Standard. “So, for me, it's not about the individual, but it's some really important questions that we should be asking our city council, such as, why was this done in secret?” In an interview on Tuesday with Western Standard, Ward 1 councillor and mayoral candidate, Sonya Sharp, in response to Farkas, said, “Someone who used to be on council should know how this works. When it comes to personnel things, everyone knows these conversations are done in-camera and so I think it's really rich of him to start throwing out numbers and information that he actually doesn’t have or is privy to. So you know, if you're going to do that, make sure you have the information in hand.” .Regardless, Sharp is not a big fan of all in-camera meetings. “I’ve never liked how council handles this,” she said. “Going in-camera to have full and frank discussions about these matters is fine, but there comes a point where council needs to conclude these discussions and vote in public and these decisions must be clear for the public to understand.” “When the public record leaves Calgarians with an impression that is the exact opposite of what occurred, we clearly have a problem. I agree that in-camera discussions need to be kept confidential, but council also can dictate what is and what isn’t confidential.” To that end, Sharp will be bringing forward a notice of motion to the executive committee of city council on July 22. The motion calls for the CAO’s compensation to be fully disclosed annually, including salary and benefits, the salary range for the position and highlights of council’s annual performance review of the CAO. .While the city provides some limited disclosure of the CAO’s compensation, the motion is designed to provide information to citizens about what the city’s most senior bureaucrat is earning, said Sharp. “Calgarians are paying the bill. I’m not sure why they shouldn’t know how much it is,” she said. “Google the compensation for any CEO of a publicly traded company, it’s all there for shareholders and anyone else to know. This is the most senior position of a public entity, so the public should have a right to know.” “This motion says that where the CAO’s pay is concerned, there isn’t much that should be left behind closed doors.” Sharp’s motion says, in part, “public confidence and accountability are strengthened when the public is provided with full, clear, and accessible information,” and, “the existing reporting and disclosure of the CAO’s salary, benefits, and pay band lacks consistency, clarity, and completeness, particularly as it relates to council’s in-camera performance review discussions and resulting decisions. .If the motion is approved by the executive committee on July 22, it will go go to full meeting of council, for debate and a vote. If the motion is rejected by the committee or subsequent council meeting, Sharp says she will bring it forward again after the October 20 municipal election. “I'm hearing it loud and clear from Calgarians they want more transparency and open form discussions so I will be pushing for that with this motion, and I will have future things to add that more needs to happen in the open, public domain.”
