Mayor John Rodriguez attempted to make major changes to the makeup of the Greater Sudbury Utilities GSU board of directors Wednesday night at the first new city council meeting.
He brought forward a motion to reduce the number of board members to 3 citizens plus himself without remuneration, from the current 9 members of the board who are together paid approximately $152,000 a year.
After a lively discussion, the decision whether or not to change the structure was deferred until Feb. 14.
Leading the charge against Rodriguez was Ward 9 Councillor Doug Craig, a current member of the GSU.
“This council needs to ensure we are at the table because as shareholders of this corporation we are stewards of it, and the responsibilities to our citizens is large,” said Craig.
“This utility has been here for 100 years and has assets of $80-90 million with a budget of $70-$80 million per year. This year revenues for Greater Sudbury Utilities is $6 to $8 million. I believe the evidence is there that to have adequate group decision making you have to have seven to nine at the table making decisions, not three or four.
"I am not opposed to reducing the board membership down from nine, but because the GSU is made up of two main parts there are times we need a committee struck to deal with telecommunications issue or the regulated side and how can we do that if we don't have enough board members?” said Craig.
Rodriquez shot back.
“Look, we pay board members $8,500 per year, $150 a meeting to sit on this board, or $400,000 over the term of this council. This is big money I think we can trim. I said I would save taxpayers money and this is an opportunity where we can,” he said.
“It is the people who work at GSU who who ensure the efficiency and high level of service - the persons who maintain the hydro lines, the CEO, the front office staff, not necessarily the board. With nine paid board members we are blowing money out the window."
“I consulted with the city's lawyer and he said we would not be violating any regulations required by the provincial government. It is time to take bold action, to travel the road less traveled,” Rodriguez said.
Ward 4 councilor Evelyn Dutrisac spoke in support of the mayor's motion.
“I knocked on a lot of doors in the past election and I was told people are scared to death about losing their homes because of high taxes, not to mention energy price increases. We have to look at ways to cut our budget to save these people grief, especially our seniors. I agree we need to take bold action to save money,” said Dutrisac.
However, Ward 3 Councillor Claude Berthiaume was the only council member who voted not defer the motion by the mayor.
“In the past we had four members plus the mayor on this board before amalgamation. Why do we have nine paid board members now? To me the way GSU operates is rather mysterious to me. We only get one report from GSU once a year just before a meeting. We should make savings. My constituents support this move by the mayor to save taxpayer dollars,” said Berthiaume.
Ward 1 Councillor Joe Cimino asked, “Will the level of service be affected? No. Will we lose any of our power over the board or the GSU. No. I have been talking and writing about saving taxpayers money for the last ten years and, to me the chance to save $400,000 over the term of our mandate is interesting. I hope to hear more of these money saving ideas. Maybe we can use this $400,000 saving to leverage other monies to make more money for the city or to promote energy saving programs that do save the public money."
However Ward 10 Councilllor Frances Caldarelli said she is concerned about where the mayor is taking council on this issue.
“Saving money is good but we have to be careful how we do it. Utilities in Oakville only have seven members, Espanola five, Barrie five, but I am concerned there is too much responsibility for too few. I think the mayor is taking us not on the road less traveled but on the road less known,” said Caldarelli.
