Skip to content

County of Paintearth re-elects Stan Schulmeister as reeve, selects Maurice Wiart as deputy

Another thing that is reviewed in the annual organizational meeting is the matter of council renumeration
26994237_web1_210211-CAS-PaintearthHighlights-paintearth_1

By Kevin J. Sabo

For the Advance

The County of Paintearth has carried on a long-standing tradition during their most recent council meeting.

In their most recent meeting, held Oct. 26, and the first since Oct. 18 general election which saw Terry Vockeroth elected to his council seat, council set to work in the annual organization meeting.

Under section 192 of the Municipal Government Act, which guides all municipalities in the province of Alberta, governing councils are required to hold an organizational meeting in the last week of October or first week of November every year.

As part of the organization meeting, the mayor or reeve of the municipality is selected for the coming year, unless they are elected to the position separately as some communities do.

While it is not required to do so, according to Chief Administrative Officer Michael Simpson, “it’s a County tradition to select reeve by secret ballot.”

Stan Schulmeister, who has served as reeve during the four years of the previous council, and Coun. George Glazier, a past County of Paintearth reeve, were both nominated.

After the vote was complete, council showed their support for Schulmeister with him winning the most votes.

For deputy reeve, again two names were nominated. Coun. Glazier and Coun. Maurice Wiart, who won re-election in a very tight race on Oct. 18, were nominated for the position, again necessitating a vote, with Wiart subsequently winning the most support from the rest of council.

Another thing that is reviewed in the annual organizational meeting is the matter of council renumeration. According to Schulmeister, the County of Paintearth council is “one of the lowest paid councils” in Alberta.

“You’re not going to make a bunch of money at this,” said Schulmeister.

Adding in increasing fuel costs, vehicle maintenance costs, insurance, and the remote geography of the area, council, hesitantly, determined that they needed to increase the monthly renumeration to offset personal costs.

Previously, councillors received $600 per month, the deputy reeve made $800 per month, and the reeve made $1000 per month, plus $220 per day or $110 per half day for non-regular council meetings.

In a motion put forward by Coun, Dale Norton, council voted in favour of increasing renumeration to $800 for councillors, $1000 for the deputy reeve, and $1200 for the reeve.

The daily meeting rates, health spending accounts, and other council renumeration costs were left at previous levels.

During the organizational meeting, council also opted to continue meeting on the first and third Tuesday of the month at 9 a.m.