New Mayor of Hamilton Jay Bluck has unveiled plans to pay members of the Corporation for serving in future.

Previous mayor Lawson Mapp made his feelings known during his term in office that Corporation members, who work as unpaid volunteers ? ought to be given a salary.

Speaking during his first week in the top job, Mr. Bluck said: ?That?s going to have to happen. We have a budget of $20 million and deal with very serious issues. People are amazed at the amount of time put in at no cost to the taxpayer ? in years gone by the Corporation was not nearly as complicated. Anyone who is CEO of a business that size would be expecting a couple of hundred thousand dollars.?

While salaries would be more modest than this, Mr. Bluck said payments would nonetheless have to be budgeted for, and would therefore be unlikely to be implemented before 2007 or 2008. He said he did not have a figure in mind at present. While the new Mayor went on to answer some of the other criticisms made of the Corporation, he declined to speak in detail about the more controversial issues ? in particular the development of the city?s waterfront.

The $639 million blueprint unveiled in March include filling in part of the harbour to create new land for a hotel and housing, plus moving the container docks away from the city and creating new underground parking.

Speaking prior to the election Mr. Bluck acknowledged: ?Everybody I?ve spoken to feels it?s much larger scale than it need be. In a way we did that deliberately to stimulate discussion on issues like lack of retail and parking space.?

Since his victory he has pledged ?full consultation? with all key stakeholders before the plans are taken any further ? beginning with a luncheon for constituents including financiers and property owners this week.

Critics of the $639 million vision to redevelop the waterfront have balked at the idea of new land being created in the harbour for a hotel and luxury housing. Former Premier Sir John Swan said last month the the ambitious plans would ?destroy? a unique area and move the use of the waterfront from ?public to private?.

Responding to this, Mr. Bluck said: ?That?s absolute rubbish. As a matter of fact it?s the opposite. We are going to open up the waterfront from one end of the city to the other.?

He also dismissed concerns that Hamilton would face long-term disruption from the project.

?I?m not sure that would be the case. It would certainly be done in phases and if we were to increase the acreage on the waterfront it would not necessarily disrupt the city as it?s all to the south of Front Street,? he said.

Pressed on whether the building works could be off-putting to tourists, he said: ?You can?t make an omelette without cracking eggs. I don?t think it will impact on tourism. As a product it (Hamilton) will be very much improved.?

However, he dismissed questions about the cost of the study commissioned ahead of of the redevelopment plan.

?No comment. It was not expensive considering what came out of it,? he said.

Quizzed on his personal view on the controversial idea of filling in part of the harbour he said: ?I?m waiting for the consultation. I know what I feel about filling in. What you like to do and what you can do are two different things.? In response to further questions about where he stood, he replied: ?No more on that.?

In the meantime, said Mr. Bluck, finding a developer for a new hotel in the Par-La-Ville area to target the business market and improving the city?s transport hub ? particularly ferry arrangements ? were higher priorities on his agenda for now.

Another key issue touched upon by all the election candidates this year was poor voter turnout. Just 231 people voted ? with the mayor in charge of a $20 million, this worked out at more than $86,500 per vote.

Mr. Bluck pledged to reach out to all those who are eligible to vote by to vote by sending out registration forms to those who didn?t turn out this time ? and chasing those who don?t return them to find out why. Critics ? including Graeme Outerbridge who lost the last Mayoral election to Lawson Mapp ? have called for a complete overhaul of the current voting system in Corporation elections. At the moment, business owners have one vote each while residential owners have one vote per household ? a situation Mr. Outerbridge has said in the past to be unfairly biased toward property owners. Mr. Bluck said: ?I don?t disagree with him at all ? but how would you do it differently? We will look at the system but at the moment concentrate on expanding the franchise by getting those who are eligible on the roll.?