THE WEDNESDAY
CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
TRI-CITY NEWS CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
Korean War walk
The Fab Four return
SEE PAGE 12
SEE ARTS, PAGE 22
JUN. 26, 2013 www.tricitynews.com
INSIDE
Tom Fletcher/10 Letters/11 A Good Read/18 Sports/26
Outgoing CAO cost PoCo $429k
Celebrating centennial in Port Moody
Banked holiday time paid out when Tony Chong resigned in 2012 By Gary McKenna
For Coquitlam’s remuneration schedule see story on page A3
THE TRI-CITY NEWS
T h e c i t y o f Po r t Coquitlam paid out $429,000 to outgoing chief administrative officer Tony Chong last year, a sum largely made up of banked holiday time over his 17year tenure. C u r r e n t CAO Jo h n Leeburn told The Tri-City News on Tuesday that Chong, who retired in April 2012, had approximately 15 months of banked holiday time, which worked out to roughly $275,000. (In 2011, Chong’s last full year with the city, he made $209,414 in remuneration). “This is not a prob-
lem that is unique to Port Coquitlam,” he said. “There are situations where people will get more than 52 weeks of pay per year. We are trying to minimize that from happening.” Changes made to the city’s vacation policy in 2010, which will impact all new hires, caps banked vacation time at six weeks. An employee who banks more than six weeks will have the additional time paid out in the first three months of the following year. see HOLIDAY, page A3
More trouble ahead for SD43? 87.4% of members support strike action, says Ginter By Diane Strandberg THE TRI-CITY NEWS
STEVE SMITH PHOTO
Thousands of revellers turned up in Port Moody on Saturday for the city’s Centennial Parade and All Nations Festival. Floats and marching bands made their way down Murray Street before the event wrapped up at Rocky Point Park. For more pictures go to page 19.
One of the most tumultuous school years in a decade has come to an end in School District 43. But with labour agreements for both B.C. teachers and CUPE support workers yet to be worked out, and heavier workloads to make up for 142 job cuts made to save $12.5 million, the next school year could prove to be just as challenging.
CUPE is first off the mark with a significant mandate in support of job action. Local 561 president Dave Ginter said his members voted 87.4% in support of strike action last Thursday, one of the largest strike mandates ever for CUPE workers in School District 43. Negotiations with B.C.’s teachers are also about to begin under a renewed mandate announced by Education Minister Peter Fassbender for a long-term agreement.The current twoyear agreement with teachers ends this month. see UNION, page A9