City Officials Vote To Be Paid For Meetings
Corporation of Hamilton officials have voted to remunerate themselves for attending board meetings, with five members voting for it, while three voted against.
The members will be paid a sum of $375 per person for board meetings, which a Council member said can last anywhere from 5-6 hours per meeting and happen once a month.
They will also be paid, a lower sum, for Committee meetings which happen more frequently. The Council members were not paid previously, and payments will be retroactive, spanning back to May 10th 2013.
Alderman Carlton Simmons said, “We have done what Government does everyday, they appoint people to boards and those people are remunerated for their time.
“The Government has put this in the legislation as one of the reforms, but after a year of negotiating with Government we have taken it upon it ourselves as Government refuses to move in an honorable manner as they would do if was the Government.”
The relevant part of the legislation is below:
The Corporations may pay fees to the Members for attendance at Corporation meetings at a rate not exceeding the amount for the time being prescribed by Part A of Schedule 1 to the Government Authorities Fees Act 1971 up to an annual maximum of 50 meetings per financial year.
The Government Authorities Fees Act 1971 [PDF] sets fees payable to the Chairman [or equivalent] at $100, while members receive $50.
The Corporation of Hamilton is set to undergo additional changes, with the House of Assembly and Senate recently voting to pass the Municipalities Amendment Act [PDF], which provides for various changes including giving a ratepayer vote to business owners.
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Dat s**** cray!
Isn’t it?! Before the election it was an unpaid position, why change it now?
What good has this new “Mayor” done? He has come into this Municipality and named nothing but cost increases to the public. MEANWHILE, he decides it is a GREAT idea to start paying themselves for meetings previously gone unpaid. RIDICULOUS!
I guess this is what happens when you don’t have a full time job aside from being the Mayor…
G.O. should be ashamed.
Payments are retroactive??? So they will get paid for all the meetings they had to discuss how they would pay themselves.
Lost a lot of respect for this group. I had hope for them, and have backed them, but more and more it seems their goal is not focused on COH but themselves. After the waterfront “gift” to a construction company, excessive clamping, raising parking fees, insensitive remarks by DS, it seems they have lost their way.
The focus should be how to get people and businesses to come into Hamilton so the area can prosper and the customers can have a great experience and return. Instead everything they do lately seems to be about how they can improve themselves financially and those around them.
You can’t grow a city by clamping cars and pushing people away! Its different in most major cities around the world because a large number of the population lives in those cities and rarely step outside the city boundaries to shop. So little business is lost through enforcement by clamping.
However, that is not true here in Hamilton. Businesses spend money trying to get people to come into the area, pay to park, and then shop. This group with their negative comments, clamping fever , raises etc… are pushing people away.
Shocking outcome, did not see that coming
An action designed to test the new legislation and the governement I would say.
Is this a joke?
I don’t recall “compensation for elected officials” being mentioned in their election platform; did they mislead the electorate????
Why didn’t all elected officials of Team Hamilton vote in favor of remunerating themselves????
Will those that voted against remuneration not be paid; will they direct the remuneration towards charities; or will they decline the remuneration and leave the funds in the Corporation?????
This latest tact proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that five of Team Hamilton’s members have completely lost their mind….
Hahaha… and they march looking for support against the Municipalities Amendment Act? Good luck with that one.
You ran for an unpaid job, won the election and held a vote to pay yourselves. You took it a step further and made it retroactive to when you first started (won the election)?
Your spokesman (@$$) tries to make it look good by claiming he has to take time from his family to attend meeting until 2am in the morning? Wow, did you work at your last job until that time getting paid? Wait no, it’s a race thing? No wait, its lack of respect for the little guy…. Talk about trying to justify a totally shallow underhanded act.
Sickening behavior and attempt to justify the f**** bunch of ….. you are. Disgraceful plain and simple.
I guess by paying themselves retroactively, they get back time with their families???
Saw this coming, they will be looking for salaries next,you all knew what this entailed before you decided to run, however this showed you had ulterior motives before hand. How about the general upkeep of the city be ramped up, aww well I can dream inna?
I am trying to understand this, when they were elected they knew they weren’t being paid and now they decided they should, and they want backpay, and they choose how much they should get paid and from when, something is not right here, I wish I could give myself a raise
There are some government boards who meet far more frequently and for as long as city councillors. Yet they only get $50 per meeting for members at large, and $100 for presiding members.
My spouse was on a Government board for over 10 years…never got paid. Regretfully, the COH elected officials have so little credibility they could accurately claim the sky is blue and most reasonable folks would look up to check first.
What absolute scum !
These guys have taken leave of their senses. Who in whose right mind would ever think of giving them any kind of remuneration in a failing economy and belong to an entity that is financially fighting for its life.
Wow blows the mind
Who are these people?
Where did they come from?
Disneyland
Goodbye Bermuda that once was. We had the 40 Thieves many many moons ago. It now appears that like “ghosts” they are rising back to where they once was. Is this a good thing when we are in what many call a recession n many folk like myself can’t even find a job to cover expenses or anything else. Yet we find funds to pay the already paid. Goodbye Bermuda that was n won’t be any more. Have anyone made reservations to head England? How many more homeless will we find outside the municipalities? Are we bound for the ‘promise’ land. Wake up people of Bermuda or fall down for not standing up for that which we should. Sad state of affairs n we be turning a blind eyes n blocking our ears n in denial to the slippery slope we are on. United…we are not…Divided…we are. Imagine that.
Last COH weren’t paid, this lot voted to pay themselves. they knew the position wasn’t paid when they took it.
I don’t think there are 40 of them
40 Thieves never left, they pass on their genes to the next generation of 40 thieves.
Meaning?
His Worthlessness Da (Night)Mare…
…Hmmm….”Retroactive”…now that’s a word I didn’t expect to hear…..SMDH………REALLY????????
With regard to the 40 Thieves, an unfortunate name that stuck to a group of gentlemen who in their day set and effected an agenda that lifted this place from near poverty to a standard of living an across the board that still ranks amongst the highest anywhere – except that for the last fourteen years we have been living on the accumulated capital their initiative created and indeed way beyond (think national debt)- spending which has fueled the arrogance of the ignorant, particularly those second and third rate so-called thinkers that deal in pseudo-history. Give me a man like Sir. Henry Tucker any day over say Zane DeSilva or Phil Butterfield.
I have no doubt that somebody will likely get on board here and call me some sort of name but then to borrow a favourite phrase of the bien pensant new Bermuda crowd “You just don’t get it…” (and probably never will).
Well that mighty white of you, sir henry tucker, give me a f%$#in break. You all hang on the attributes of the great hank tucker if you want, but he really didn’t have much use for us poor black folk. Truth is he realized if he and his rich friends were to remain that way, he had to includethe black bermudian…not a hero, a self serving pragmatist !!!!!
Obviously they feel they should be paid for all the time they put in filling out their expense reports.
Get what you vote for…
I wasn’t allowed to vote. Were you?
Lost my vote but still have to pay for these jerks – as I said the new Bermuda, where some of us are more equal than others.
They want pay – then they should have to return the thousands of dollars set aside for their trips and they can pay for them out of this salary. It is set up like a Gov’t – so much per day for attending – Companies stop paying your taxes…
I was on a Government board for 3 years and was paid $50 per meeting and maybe $75 per meeting for the subcommittee I chaired. It amounted to just over $1k per year. Fair I believe for the amount of time I spent on this board and the work required – yes, it was a working board. $375 per meeting sounds like overkill in my opinion.
Gosling, Smith, Simmons.Scott. Did anyone really expect anything else from them?
Real snake oil salesmen.
Gosling? Outerbridge is mayor.
I would have preferred to have the fountain working outside City Hall.
It’s a good thing the CoH has a spiritual advisor to guide them in their decisions. Is this what is meant by “Have a blessed day”?
Lord, line my pockets too!
Keep ya head up
Wow,,only in Bda
WHAT A JOKE… SERIOUSLY!!!!
Those who voted probably don’t even need the extra income but are going to take it anyway. Where do I sign up hell I can sit in a meeting just to get paid as well!!!!!
Lmao, well done graham, i love it. If oba dont want you and your team in place , make them pay you till 2015. Priceless!!!
Actually it does have a price, think about it. You’re right though, until 2015, no one with a brain will let this greed continue.
I wanna get paid too……for breathing, eating, drinking, sleeping and performing other personal/intimate automated bodily functions that occur in private settings
You should get an all paid vacation at Westgate Guest House located at channel view.
Still smh at this ‘story’ so I think I will be requesting my employer to pay me for each meeting I attend see how well that goes over.