Lake Country’s top paid public employee was also the biggest spender for 2019.
Chief administrative officer Alberto De Feo made $277,667 in 2019, and had $10,714 in expenses. De Feo is the sole staff member earning more than $200,000.
“It’s mostly to attend conferences and also for professional development,” said De Feo, who has 33 years experience in local government, the last 11 with the district of Lake Country.
“We (the district) are pretty advanced in the way we try to keep people appraised of what is happening in society,” De Feo said. “We encourage people to attend conferences and also to make sure they have sufficient courses.”
The second highest paid civic employee (of which there approximately 100) and spender was deputy chief administrative officer Tanya Garost, earning $165,525 with $9,948 in expenses.
There were 33 city employees in total who earned more than $75,000, 14 of which collected six figures. They include: director of infrastructure services Greg Buchholz ($147,457), senior engineering technician Aron Chatten ($104,323), manager of HR and safety Holly Flinkman ($110,254), director of community services Mark Koch ($154,134), community development manager Jamie McEwan ($107,714), director of policy and legal affairs Michael Mercer ($1142,699), utility superintendent M Mitchell ($101,573), deputy fire chief Brent Penner ($121,541), chief building inspector Zara Rockwell ($101, 646), public works manager Matthew Salmon ($124,944), corporate services manager Reyna Seabrook ($112,732), manager of communications and affairs Matt Vader ($107,008) and fire chief Steve Windsor ($152,416).
On council, Mayor James Baker had $6,112 in expenses and remuneration of $51,000.
His council counterparts each earned less than half, $20,225.
The second highest expense claim was from Coun. Bill Scarrow with $4,485 in expenses, followed by Coun. Todd McKenzie ($4,052), Coun. Jerremy Kozub ($3,344), Coun. Blair Ireland ($2,793), Coun. Cara Reed ($2,718) and Coun. Penny Gambell ($2,609).
Expenses are generally a result of out of town meetings and other expenses incurred for political purposes.
For a full list of remuneration and expenses, visit lakecountry.civicweb.net
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