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Politics

The Legitimacy of Jim Abram’s Expenses

The legitimacy of Regional Director Jim Abrams expenses was once again discussed at the last meeting of the SRD board prior to the election.

When the auditor submitted his report to the SRD Board at their May 11, 2022 meeting, Campbell River Director Claire Moglove, pointed out that there was a significant difference in what Directors were being paid.

“I think for the sake of transparency in particular to the public, that we have more of an explanation as to how that comes to be. So in particular, on the remuneration side, at some point I would love to see a breakdown of what is the regular stipend for Directors and what are the meeting fees that have been incurred,” she said. 

Campbell River Director Charlie Cornfield subsequently objected to the idea Directors were receiving compensation for attending meetings. 

“Compensable meetings are supposed to be there to compensate you for loss of the day or time, or you’ve got to travel and you’re going to attend a meeting just like you came to attend this one. That’s fair enough, but it’s not there to generate revenue. I look at every single one of the virtual meetings that we attended, and I never once thought about claiming for one of those.” 

Mayor Andy Adams of Campbell River added, “I’m going to move that an independent audit of the SRD Board members renumeration and expenses be conducted immediately to confirm the variances outlined in the report from the CAO.”

Director Abram received substantially more than the other Directors. For example, in 2021 eight of the fourteen SRD Directors had meetings with external agencies and were eligible for renumeration. Only two of them are mentioned applying. An unnamed Campbell River Director received $320. Jim Abram, Director of Area C received $4,800. 

Graph from SRD staff report showing Abram far more for contacting external agencies than the other Directors

There is also specific compensation for Regional Directors attending public hearings, parcel tax hearings, select or committee meetings, et cetera. Only two Directors made claims. Abram, who looks after the largest area in the Strathcona Regional District, received $9,120 for attending 57 meetings. Gerald Whalley, whose area stretches across from the west coast of Vancouver Island to Sayward claimed $160 for one meeting. There were no claims from Area D or Area B (Cortes Island).

Graph from SRD staff report showing Abram claimed far more meeting expenses than the other rural Directors.

After a thorough analysis, the auditing committee determined that Abram, should repay $8,640, which Abram agreed to do ‘without prejudice.’ 

However, after the meeting, he told the Bird’s Eye, Quadra island’s weekly journal, “This was a complete miscarriage of justice, as far as I’m concerned. It resulted from a re-interpretation by our CAO of a bylaw that’s been in place, in writing, for over three years. We as Electoral Area Directors have been using that as our guide as to what can be claimed. I met the bylaw on every single one of those meetings. And I was paid after the scrutiny of the finance department after every one of those meetings. And now with a re-interpretation of what the bylaw meant I’m being told. Well, this one doesn’t qualify, or this one. Therefore you owe.” 

He told the Bird’s-Eye that he had enough stress in his life. 

“I’m quitting this job because of stress. I don’t need another stressful situation.” 

Director Abrams subsequently printed an apology and retraction in the October 5, 2022 edition of the Bird’s-Eye.  

How the SRD’s Chief Financing Officer determined Director Abram owed $8,640. These findings were reviewed by Directors Unger, Moglove and Abram

In his Chair’s Report for the October 12 meeting. Brad Unger said, “As we all know, the initial review from this item was done by corporate staff, followed by a review of the board subcommittee of Vice Chair, myself, and Director Abram. We went through all the claims at the end of the day, 57 claims had been previously paid that were not compensable.”

He added, “The statements made in the Bird’s-Eye article by Director Abram after the board meeting were false and misleading to the public. Director Abram has subsequently now placed an ad in the October 5 edition of the Bird’s Eye, retracting his statements, apologizing to both the board and the CAO.”

Director Abram’s retraction – courtesy the Bird’s Eye

This SRD Board will meet one more time after the October 15 election. 

“The election is in two days. Those that are running, I wish you luck. Those that got acclaimed, you’re lucky people and those who aren’t running, you’re probably even luckier,” quipped Unger.

Neither Abram or Cortes Island Director Noba Anderson are seeking reelection. Mark Vonesch has been acclaimed the next Regional Director of Cortes Island. It remains to be seen whether Marc Doll or Robyn Mawhinney will be elected in Area C.

Top image credit: Canadian Money by PiggyBank Canada via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

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