O Canada
CANAdA dAY WEEkENd EvENTS: PAGES 26 / 27-29 / 49-52 • PluS b1-4
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JUNe 27
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2019
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Who makes what in the tri-Cities n COQUITLAM: page 7 n PORT MOODY: page 9 n PORT COQUITLAM: page 11
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vaGraMov leave
Vagramov pay stops – after $26k Vagramov is on leave while he deals with a sexual assault charge Mario Bartel mbartel@tricitynews.com
Ivy Peers, a First Nations dancer and singer from Alert Bay, performs at National Indigenous Peoples Day ceremonies last Friday at Port Moody’s Rocky Point Park. In the evening, a flotilla of canoes left Rocky Point for a ceremonial paddle. For more on this, see story on page 17; more photos at tricitynews.com. MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS
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Port Moody council voted Tuesday to make Mayor Rob Vagramov’s leave of absence unpaid while he contests a charge of sexual assault. The decision came the day after Vagramov sent an email to councillors advising them he would no longer accept his $111,833 annual salary until his legal issue is resolved. Since Vagramov’s leave took effect March 29, he has earned almost $26,000. In his email Monday, Vagramov said because his case is “taking longer to resolve than I had expected,” he has “become less and less comfortable receiving a full salary the longer this legal situation takes.” Vagramov sent a copy of the email to council to The TriCity News but did not respond
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to requests for comment. Council had granted Vagramov a paid leave in a special closed meeting March 28, after the charge was announced by a special prosecutor who had been assigned to investigate an incident that is alleged to have taken place in Coquitlam in 2015. But less than a month later, council announced it would review its decision, and on May 8 it decided to stay the course but review the leave every 45 days. Such a review was scheduled for Tuesday. According to Port Moody’s general manager of finance and technology, Paul Rockwood, in the almost three months since Vagramov’s leave started, his gross salary was $25,719.60, minus deductions of $8,145.20. He also earned nearly $2,000 in paid benefits, including extended health, dental and MSP coverage. Acting Mayor Meghan Lahti said a review of Vagramov’s leave is now moot. see
‘THE RIGHT THING’, page 11
.ca