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Volume 72, Number 13 GST Included $1.00 Wednesday April 1, 2009 Orono Town Hall Serving Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono, Starkville and Tyrone since 1937 The cost of local government This was the week Councillors' salaries were disclosed in a report that "Council always enjoys," Councillor Gord Robinson said, tongue in cheek at Monday's General Purpose and Administration Committee meeting. According to the Remuneration and Expense Report for 2008, Mayor Jim Abernethy took home $159,033 including expenses, in his dual roles as Mayor and Regional Councillor last year. The Mayor was given $75,626 in gross pay from the Municipality of Clarington last year. He was awarded $10,536 in travel allowance and reimbursed $3,545 for attending conferences, and $1,782 for parking, meals, mileage outside the municipality and miscellaneous charges. The six Councillors received a gross pay of $30,250 plus $6,984 in travel allowance, and between $1,055 and $2,615 in conference claims, except for Councillor Gord Robinson who made a $42 conference claim. Councillor Novak received $10,191 in travel allowance as she was Deputy Mayor for 11 months in 2008. At the Regional level, Mayor Abernethy was paid $45,860 including conferences and mileage. He was also reimbursed $1,801 for a waste technology trip. Councillor Mary Novak was paid $48,286 plus mileage COST see page 3 Nine-year-old Makayla Austin, took her two-year-old brother Reed for a ride on Lake Breeze Drive at the Port of Newcastle on Saturday morning. Mayor Jim Abernethy wants councillors to operate under a specific code of conduct While the majority of Councillors said they were not in favour of drafting a new policy specific to how councillors conduct themselves, they did all vote in favour of such a policy. Mayor Abernethy presented a motion at the March 23rd meeting of Clarington Council requesting the Municipal CAO research and review existing codes of conduct various municipalities have adopted for council members and report back in September. Several Councillors said the existing policy which provides a standard of conduct for the employees of the Municipality could be modified to address a code of conduct for council members. "Why should we reinvent the wheel?" Councillor Mary Novak asked. "We are threequarters of the way through our term without any concerns," she stated. "We have larger issues that need our attention." "If we've got something that is workable, let's stick to that, as opposed to creating more work," Councillor Adrian Foster said. The number of items in the staff code of conduct that could be amended to include a council code of conduct, "were minimal," according to Mayor Abernethy. "It falls short of the many codes of conduct out there today," he said. Councillor Adrian Foster said he didn't feel it was necessary to burden the CAO, Frank Wu, with a huge project when there was sufficient material in the employee code of conduct that could be modified into a council code of conduct. "I think what we have is sufficient," he said. "We demand, and the public demands that we hold ourselves to a higher standard." Mayor Abernethy asked Wu if reviewing and researching existing codes would be a huge undertaking. "Would we be imposing on you and your time to complete a report, not complete an actual code of conduct, and have it back to this Council by September 14?" "I am not a Superman, but I'll do my best," Wu said. "September 14 is a reasonable time frame." Prior to calling the vote, Abernethy requested a recorded vote, and all of Council voted in favour of his motion. Whats Inside See page 11