Mayor Dave Barrow and Regional Councillors Joe DiPaola and Carmine Perrelli each earn an additional $56,195 per annum to represent Richmond Hill residents at York Regional Council.
On February 25, 2019 Council also approved Greg Beros to be an Regional Alternate Councillor so that “Richmond Hill maintains the opportunity to exercise all three of its votes at York Region Council meetings”.
Regional Representatives are required per the Municipal Act to attend monthly Regional Council Meetings (12 in 2019)
Regional Representatives are also members of the biweekly Committee of the Whole Meetings (18 in 2019) but it’s not a requirement to attend.
The chart below shows the number of York Regional meetings that each RH representatives attended in 2019.
York Regional Meetings 12 in 2019Committee of the Whole 18 in 2019Mayor Barrow 100% 12/1283% 15/18Regional Councillor DiPaola92% 11/1294% 17/18Regional Councillor Perrelli58% 7/1261% 11/18Regional Alternate Beros50% 3/6N/AThe York Region Mayors and Regional Councillors are also expected (but not mandatory) to sit on various Regional committees and task forces. The chart below shows the additionals committee and task forces that RH representatives attend.
Mayor BarrowRegional Councillor PerrelliRegional Councillor DiPaolaGovernance Task Force NoneAudit CommitteeYork Region Rapid Transit CorpNonePlanning Advisory CommitteeCOW Finance and Administration CommitteeNoneToronto and Region Conservation AuthorityNoneSummary
Mayor Barrow attended 100% of York Regional Council meetings and 83% of the COW meetings and sits on an additional 4 committees
Regional Councillor DiPaola attended 92% of York Regional Council meetings and 94% of the COW meetings and sits on an additional 2 committees
Kudos to Mayor Barrow and Regional Councillor DiPaola for earning their 2019 York Regional Council salaries!
Regional Councillor Perrelli was absent for almost half of the York Regional Council and Committee of the Whole meetings
Regional Councillor Perrelli does not sit on any additional York Regional Committees and Task Forces
How can Regional Councillor Perrelli be representing Richmond Hill interests at the regional level when he is absent from meetings 40% of the time? Should he be receiving his full Regional compensation when he is continually absent and also does not sit on any other regional committees?
Alternate Councillor Greg Beros attended 3 out of 6 York Regional Council meetings where a Regional Councillor was absent subsequently RH “did not have the opportunity to exercise all 3 of its votes” for 3 out of 6 Council meetings where others were absent.
Why is Councillor Beros a “Regional Alternate” if he is not attending all the Regional Council Meetings in the absence of others? Wasn’t that the intent of making Beros an alternate? Was the real intent to obtain the title of “Regional Alternate” to raise his profile? see https://gregberos.com/ and https://twitter.com/gregberos/status/1108822836037197825
Out of the 9 municipalities that make up York Region only 3 have an Alternate Councillor. Richmond Hill, King and Whitchurch-Stouffville. King and Whitchurch-Stouffville only has their Mayor on York Regional Council as they do not have Regional Councillors.
Reference: 2019 York Regional Council Meeting Minutes and York Regional Committee of the Whole Minutes