Metro Vancouver to vote on more meetings, money for chair and vice chair 

Outgoing Metro Vancouver Regional District Chair George Harvie is already facing criticism over expenses, and now the board is set to vote on what will amount to a big bump in pay for the chair and vice chair positions.

The increase in compensation would be a result of fees paid for attending more regional district meetings.

Friday’s scheduled vote is actually about loosening the cap on the number of meetings the chair and vice chair are allowed to be paid for — currently 18 — for which they get a minimum of $525 apiece.

The proposal going before the board is to increase the limit to 67 meetings, almost four times the current number, because of increased demands, which would translate to roughly $25,000 more annually for each of the two positions.

This is on top of the base pay of a little over $105,000 for their regional district duties, regardless of meetings attended.

This comes as there is criticism surrounding the expenses of outgoing Metro Vancouver Chair George Harvie, the mayor of Delta.

Earlier this week, Harvie cancelled a trip on behalf of Metro Vancouver to Amsterdam, under fire for what was being spent on travel, as well as other expenses.