A plan by Victoria's Mayor to hire a Head of Operations and Strategy, at a cost of $120,000, has been reigned in.
Lisa Helps says the job is basically for a chief of staff position, something other mayors in larger centres have to help them out.
Helps says the staffer would provided strategic support to advance the city's priorities.
But councillors had issues with the plan -- most particularly the $120,000 salary. They have agreed to the position, but reduced to salary to $90,000, plus benefits. That would total $108-thousand in total.
Councillor Geoff Young says he's concerned about an outsider helping direct policy:
" And of course that's where I started to have some problems with it because basically the city staff is supposed to reflect the will of the council as a whole. And then when you contemplate, as I would say, another person who is forwarding the agenda of the mayor that could lead to real problems."
Young also worries there could be overlap in the roles of the new staffer, and the current city which could lead to friction.
Helps maintains the roles of both positions wiol be different, and adds her agenda is the same as council's and she isn't out to promote her own goals.
The mayor is alittle concerned about the salary drop , saying if she can't find the right person, she won't hire them.