The board in charge of Waterfront Toronto quietly approved a pay bump for executives in time for the New Year.

The move, which Mayor John Tory says should be reconsidered, has renewed concerns of transparency about the practices of the agency that oversees development of valuable lakeside land and was formed with $1.5 billion in public funds.

Despite the agency’s own stated commitment to openness, Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong — who sits on the board as Tory’s appointee and was the only member to vote against the increases — says there’s still work to be done to improve accountability.

“It’s one of the most important sites in the city that we’re developing,” Minnan-Wong said. “They have an obligation to the public who is funding their project to be fully open about what they’re doing.”

On Wednesday, Waterfront Toronto spokesperson Andrew Hilton said the agency “is alway interested in any suggestion that would improve transparency, accountability or our governance practices.”

At a meeting Dec. 15, the board voted 6 to 1 to increase the salaries of three executives — chief financial officer Chad McCleave, vice-president of development Meg Davis and vice-present of planning and design Christopher Glaisek — by between 8.6 and 11.6 per cent. Potential bonuses based on performance were increased from a possible 20 per cent of their base pay to 25 per cent.

Those three executives made between $232,000 and $248,000 last year with $14,000 to $15,500 in taxable benefits, according to the public salary disclosure list.

After prompting by Minnan-Wong, who said he threatened to take the decision to an open meeting monitor, the board asked lawyer Suzanne Craig to review the closed portion of the meeting.

Her letter to the board dated Dec. 23 and posted on the Waterfront website this week found the board did not follow the proper process for in-camera sessions and public disclosure.

Craig concluded that a general discussion on changes in compensation could have taken place in public before talk of individual executive salaries was properly discussed in private.

She also said the board’s public agenda should include a description of what’s being discussed behind closed doors. The Dec. 15 agenda only stated it was concerning: “personal matters about an identifiable individual, including employees of the corporation.”

Along with Craig’s review, Waterfront Toronto posted a memorandum about their pay decision, saying the board reviewed executive salaries at comparable agencies and found their management team pay was “considerably lower” — which they claimed presented a potential “flight risk situation.”

Questioned about the increases Wednesday, Tory said he’s against a pay increase as the city looks to balance its own budget.

“It’s easy to sit and second-guess but I would not have voted for this and I have suggested they might want to reconsider it,” Tory told reporters.

Board chair Mark Wilson said the board will “consider” the mayor’s request at its next meeting.

On the secrecy, Tory said: “Public bodies, whether they’re at arms length from the city of not, have an obligation to account for public money in as transparent a way as possible, including salary.”

In the future, Minnan-Wong said he’d like to see Waterfront more prominently promote their meeting and agenda on the front page of their website and on social media. He also said that president and CEO John Campbell and Wilson should receive training on board rules and preparing the public agenda.

“They do very little in a proactive way to promote or encourage people to pay attention to what goes on at their board meetings,” Minnan-Wong said. “If you actually want to walk the walk and you want to actually embrace transparency you’ll figure out ways in which to encourage openness. I think that would be a positive step forward.”

After the criticism, Waterfront Toronto updated the home page of its website Wednesday to include a link to board materials.

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It’s not the first time the board has been blasted by city hall over transparency.

Last December it was revealed the board had blown its project budget for the Queens Quay revitalization and needed to increase spending by $35.7 million — what was only made public 10 months after the board first learned of the problem.

At the time, Waterfront Toronto defended that decision, citing ongoing negotiations with contractors, while a “concerned” Tory dispatched Minnan-Wong to investigate.

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