A misunderstanding over a pay cut made waves during a recent Woodlands County Council meeting
Back in mid-April of 2020, Woodlands County Council passed a motion that directed their Administration to reduce Council honorariums until they could get back to doing in-person meetings. Like the Town of Whitecourt, Woodlands County holds online meetings and Council members and staff tune in, often from home. The motion, brought forward by Mayor John Burrows, directed Administration to lower the elected official honorariums by ten percent. It also included reducing the professional development funds, per elected official, by five thousand dollars for 2020.
Since then, the Council Chamber was equipped with the technology needed to live stream meetings so that even when they return to in-person attendance, residents near and far can tune in to keep up to date on Woodlands County Council happenings. At the time, the motion included a stipulation that once Council returned, in-pe