Metro Vancouver motion proposes reductions in directors' compensation and fewer committees

Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West is hoping for support at Metro Vancouver's board meeting on Friday for his motion to reduce meeting compensation for directors and cut the number of committees in half.

The motion comes as the regional government is under scrutiny for cost overruns and scope creep.

It's part of a nearly 1,500-page meeting package that calls for the Metro Vancouver's meeting stipend to go from $547 for four-hour meetings to $273.50 while also eliminating the additional stipend for meetings longer than four hours.

It also calls for a reduction in the total number of Metro Vancouver meetings for which a stipend is paid by at least 50 per cent from 2024 totals.

Metro Vancouver can have more than a dozen meetings in one month. It currently has 16 committees, populated by its 41 board members, which represent 21 municipalities.

West's motion also calls for a "full-scale, external core service review" of the organization to especially look for duplication or overlap with other levels of government.

Since the price tag to build a new waste water treatment on the North Shore ballooned from $700 million to $3.86 billion — with all 21 member municipalities having to absorb the cost — criticism of the regional government has been fierce, mostly from within its own ranks.

Surrey council, which has six board members on Metro Vancouver, voted this week to withdraw from a regional growth strategy that directs the organization's decisions around utilities and the region's agricultural, conservation and recreation and industrial lands.

"The City of Surrey is dedicated to ensuring that our residents have access to the services and resources they rightfully deserve, without facing an unreasonable financial strain," Surrey Coun. Pardeep Kooner said Tuesday in a statement.

Surrey said it's standing up for the interests of its residents because the Metro 2050 strategy "imposes unfair costs and expectations on our community."

WATCH: Beleaguered water-and-waste-treatment provider facing questions over finances:

Touring the site of the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant

30 days ago

Duration 2:20

Metro Vancouver is showing progress on the five-times over-budget North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant. Originally slated to be finished in 2023, the new deadline for the plant is 2030. As Chad Pawson reports, Metro Vancouver officials are trying to turn the corner on the project’s problematic past.

Metro Vancouver chair Mike Hurley, who is the mayor of Burnaby, assumed the role last summer with a promise to review Metro's governance.

He has since initiated two reviews — one for governance, the other an independent review of the North Shore Waste Water Treatment plant.

As for Surrey, Hurley said the regional government wants dialogue.

"Surrey is an important part of our region, and we will be reaching out to them to better understand their concerns," he said in a statement.

Metro Vancouver said over the past 30 years, it has never had a member seek to withdraw from a regional growth strategy.

Surrey did vote to adopt the strategy in February 2023 despite some initial objections, which Metro said were resolved.

The regional government said in addition to speaking with Surrey over its new objections, it would also seek guidance from the province, "which is responsible for the legislation governing regional growth strategies, to better understand how to address the situation."