Port Moody Mayor Rob Vagramov will still be paid his full $111,833 annual salary while he’s on an indefinite leave of absence to deal with a charge of sexual assault.
At a closed meeting Tuesday, city council decided to stand by its earlier decision to grant Vagramov the paid leave that was effective March 29, the day after the criminal charge was filed by a special prosecutor.
But in a resolution released Wednesday, council said it will review its decision after 45 days and every 45 days after that as long as Vagramov is on leave.
Acting Mayor Meghan Lahti said council didn’t want to tie its regular review to specific events like a court date. But, she said, council did want to send a message that it would consistently revisit the matter and its determination wouldn’t necessarily stay in effect until Vagramov returns to his position.
“We are cognizant of the community’s concerns,” Lahti said about some of the feedback council’s received regarding Vagramov’s paid leave. “That’s why we are are revisiting it on a consistent basis.”
Vagramov was charged after an investigation that began last Dec. 17, two months after the 26-year-old was elected as Port Moody’s youngest mayor ever after serving one term as a councillor.
In a statement Vagramov made at city hall following a closed meeting in which council granted him his paid leave, he denied the allegation and vowed to fight the charge “every step of the way, including filing a suit for defamation for this continued attack on my character.”
There is no provincial law that compels municipal politicians to step down if they’re charged with a criminal offence. But at its convention last fall, the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) passed resolutions calling for changes to the province's Local Government Act that would give municipalities more power to deal with politicians who are facing serious criminal charges. Those potential changes include the right to remove politicians from office if they’re convicted and to grant paid leave to someone charged with an offence.
Lahti said council’s decision to grant Vagramov paid leave is consistent with the UBCM’s position.
So far, the provincial government hasn’t acted on the UBCM resolutions, In February, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs stated “any proposed changes in this area are intricate and must be considered carefully.”
Meanwhile, Port Moody council’s finance committee has yet to determine where the money to pay councillors who will be acting mayor for three-month terms through to the end of the year will come from.
At its meeting April 23, council decided the three acting mayors — Lahti, as well as councillors Hunter Madsen and Steve Milani — who were selected randomly, will see their councillor salaries of $40,579 topped up to the mayor’s pay rate for each of their terms. That could end up costing the city up to $53,000 if Vagramov’s leave extends to the end of the year.
The next meeting of the finance committee is scheduled for May 21.
At Vagramov’s first scheduled court date in BC provincial court in Port Coquitlam on the charge April 25, special prosecutor Michael Klein asked the judge, Eugene Jamieson, to put the matter over until May 29. An articling law student who appeared in court on behalf of Vagramov’s lawyer, Ian Donaldson, agreed to the adjournment so disclosure papers could be reviewed. Vagramov, who was not required to be in court, did not attend.
— with files from Diane Strandberg and Janis Cleugh
0508-Story updated to include comments from Acting Mayor Meghan Lahti
