Posted By BRIAN SHYPULA, Staff Reporter
PostedJanuary 9, 2010
Volunteers with the Perth County accessibility advisory committee will be paid more to attend meetings in 2010.
Perth County councillors approved paying the volunteers $97.71 a meeting — the standard council committee rate for meeting which last less than three hours — to a maximum of six meetings a year.
Until now, the volunteers got a flat $250 stipend a year. The committee typically met four times a year, which worked out to $62.50 a meeting.
A report by accessibility co-ordinator Lisa-Dawn Wismer found members of the Perth County land division committee get paid $111.39 a meeting. Accessibility committee members in Wellington County get $100 a meeting and $136 in Huron County.
The committee’s workload is expected to increase with new provincial standards that came into force Jan. 1.
Ontario ministries, hospitals, schools, municipalities and other public sector organizations must make sure their services are accessible by meeting requirements such as training staff about meeting the needs of customers with a variety of disabilities, communicating with a person in a manner that takes into account their disability and permitting customers to bring their service animals, such as guide dogs, onto their premises.
The private sector will need to meet the requirements by 2012.
Coun. Terry Seiler supported the pay increase, saying it’s “hard enough” to find people willing to serve on volunteer committees.
“Accessibility is high priority now,” said Coun. Ron McKay.
However, he suggested the six-meeting cap to keep the cost of the committee in check.
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Article ID# 2254724
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