Brandon to explore feasibility of full-time councillors

Brandon City Council has directed staff to do a comparison with other municipalities to determine if council members should work full-time and receive higher salaries.

Administration will compare Brandon’s council structure and pay to cities of similar size in Canada and come back with a report next February. Changes would come into effect for the 2026 municipal election in October.

“It’s time to start talking about it again, because we’re getting to that point where … the demands from the public are getting more and more,” Coun. Shawn Berry (Ward 7) said on Wednesday.

While the demands increase, the time to deal with them doesn’t, the 15-year councillor said, adding work during that period has gone from “busy to busier.”

Brandon’s council currently operates with 10 councillors and a mayor, with only the mayor acting in a full-time role. Along with going to full-time councillors, the potential change could also shrink their number.

Coun. Bruce Luebke (Ward 6) and Coun. Kris Desjarlais (Ward 2) initiated the review.

Luebke said full-time councillors could yield better results for the city in the future, as councillors who aren’t retired also work a full-time job.

He said while councillors can put in as little or as much time as they want, for him it’s similar to a “full-time job for part-time pay,” adding he doesn’t think anyone on council is in it for the paycheque.

Luebke said the review for pay — which is mandatory every four years — is also important.

“In the seven-plus years that I’ve been on council, I think the time commitment to be an effective councillor has definitely increased,” he said. “I think having a review of compensation for council is certainly worthwhile to do.”

Desjarlais didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Nine of the 10 Brandon councillors made just over $23,000 in 2024, while deputy mayor Glen Parker made $29,000. Mayor Jeff Fawcett made $100,000.

Renee Sigurdson, the city’s director of legislative services, said administration doing the study is more cost-effective than having a neutral third party do it.

The cost for a third-party company to do the research would be about $25,000, a council report said.

The study will look at council structures for between five and 10 cities of similar size in Saskatchewan, Alberta and western Ontario.

While council can’t have more than 10 councillors under the provincial Municipal Act, it is possible for its size to shrink.

“We would look at whether there needs to be adjustments of size based on the workload of current council,” Sigurdson said.

Regular councillors in similarly sized North Bay, Ont. — which also has 10 councillors — made just shy of $32,000 in 2024. The mayor there was paid $88,000, while the deputy mayor, who is also a councillor, made $36,000.

Medicine Hat, Alta., which has about 12,000 more people than Brandon, has eight councillors that are paid just over $60,000 each for part-time work. The mayor in that city made $159,000, as of this month.

Councillors in both of those cities also get per diems on top of their salary, as do Brandon council members.

Councillors had mixed views about the possible changes.

Coun. Shaun Cameron (Ward 4) said while he didn’t get into municipal politics because of the pay, a review by administration — and not council itself — is good.

“I think the one thing compensation does, though, is it does reflect the amount of time that you put in,” Cameron said.

He said he puts in about 20 to 30 hours a week on average as a councillor.

“I think it’s good overall to do a wide look at the landscape and make sure that our council has the ability to attract good representation.”

Ward 10 Coun. Tyson Tame said he doesn’t “think there’s enough workload to justify the expense” of full-time councillors in Brandon.

“The job can be almost as demanding as you want or not,” Tame said. “You can be as involved as you sort of want, or you can do the minimum.”

There isn’t enough ward and board work to justify paying councillors full-time salaries, even if council was downsized.

“I don’t think it’s required to run the municipality. I don’t think it’s efficient.”

He also said he doesn’t have any complaints on the position’s pay, as he doesn’t do the job for the salary.

“It’s nothing to do with the money for me at all. If it was, I wouldn’t do council,” Tame said.

Coun. Jason Splett (Ward 8) said he thinks getting administration to compare the city to others is a “prudent” thing to do.

“I would say for the hours that I put in for that (pay), it probably is not adequate for the amount of hours spent in, if you looked at minimum wage,” Splett said.

“But I do understand that the city is under financial constraints,” he said, adding he didn’t run for council because of the money but to better his community.

Coun. Heather Karrouze (Ward 1) said councillors put in a lot of work in the community.

“I think that it’s a good idea to look at the compensation to make sure that our Brandon city council members are being paid adequately and competitively,” Karrouze said.

Berry said he has “never been a big fan or in favour of full-time councillors,” but his attitude has shifted a bit.

He said Brandon councillors are some of the lowest paid in the country for its size of city.

“I think it’s maybe time that that we kind of got up to the standard across Canada for same-size council, same-size city.”

Berry said a lot of people think all that council members do is meet every two weeks, but in reality he’s often talking to residents and participating in board meetings, and budget time is extremely busy.

“I’ve always said it’s never about the money, and I still believe that, but … if other councillors are making 30 per cent more than we are, something’s not fair there.”

Fawcett said the compensation he receives as mayor is not an issue for him, nor was it a concern when he was paid as a councillor.

Council functions well as it currently stands, he said, adding that lowering the number of councillors would likely yield the same results.

There have been many times, Fawcett said, when councillors go on extended leaves and the rest of council has functioned properly.

He added that full-time councillors are likely not on the table.

“I don’t think that we’re anywhere close to having full-time city councillors of any kind,” Fawcett said.

Kelly Saunders, a political science professor at Brandon University, said the review is “absolutely” worthwhile for the city.

She said it can be difficult for councillors who have a full-time job and a family.

“Maybe moving towards a full-time council — smaller council, but a full-time council — might be the way to go. Brandon’s growing,” Saunders said.

“The challenges are getting larger, the demands are getting larger, and yet, we’re expecting councillors to do it on a part-time basis. So, I think it is worthy of study.”

She said there are two main solutions council can make — to leave council’s structure as is, or to reduce the number of councillors and make them full-time. There are “costs and benefits” to both, she said.

Saunders said one benefit of making councillors a full-time position is that it could attract more people to run.

“The people that are able to run for council are people that maybe are already well established in their careers, so they can take on this kind of responsibility,” she said.

“A young person for example, that’s just beginning their career, might not be able to take on a part-time council obligation.”

Saunders also said that decisions like these are difficult, because council has to vote once administation’s recommendation is made.

“So much of politics is about perception, not necessarily about fact. The optics of councillors … voting in their own pay increases or benefit increases just is not a good look,” she said, adding she can understand why councillors can be hesitant to give themselves a raise.

» alambert@brandonsun.com