The City of Saskatoon is set to ask the province to allow councillors to take leaves of absence.
The governance and priorities committee has agreed to approach the Saskatchewan government to amend the Cities Act to allow leaves of absence of three consecutive months, or longer.
“Our legal requirement is to not miss three consecutive city council meetings, and if that’s the case then we lose our position,” Coun. Sarina Gersher said.
Councillors are currently not eligible for a formal parental leave, elder care leave, or any other leave.
“We’re all people working in a job, and in order to do the best job, you yourself needs to be healthy too,” Gersher said.
The committee also recommended there be a contingency fund of $21,000. That money would be used to provide temporary administrative staff for the City Clerk’s Office to fill the void if a councilor does take a leave.
