HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2018-5-24, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2018.
New Wingham Police budget awaits approval
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Between North Huron Police
Services Board meetings on May 10
and May 15, a 17 per cent reduction
in the $1.6 million Wingham Police
Service Budget became a 14 per cent
reduction due to some forgotten
salary additions.
During the May 15 meeting,
Wingham Police Chief Tim Poole
said he had forgotten, when
preparing the 2018 budget, to
include statutory holidays, resulting
in an approximate $1.4 million
budget, up approximately $200,000
from 2017.
The budget was approved by the
board for presentation to North
Huron Council on May 22,
alongside forecasted budgets for
2019 and 2020.
Poole also highlighted several
parts of the budget which he felt
needed to be identified as expenses
that shouldn't be attributed to the
Wingham Police Service.
He said that honorariums for the
police services board as well as
expenses, are in the budget, but
should be part of the general North
Huron budget because those
expenses would be static regardless
of whether it was the Wingham
Police Services or the Ontario
Provincial Police covering
Wingham.
Prior to passing the budget, Vice -
Chair Joan van der Meer asked if
Poole was comfortable with the
budget and he said he was.
After additional questions about
the budget, including equipment and
technology expenses, the board was
posed a question by Vice -Chair Joan
van der Meer: whether the board
would entertain any further changes.
Board member Bill Gregoriadis
said that, if council requested
changes, the board could look at it,
but didn't feel there was much more
to cut back. He said the budget was
"fine and fair."
North Huron Councillor and
Board Chair Trevor Seip, however,
felt the board should send a clear
message to council, and asked the
board whether or not they felt more
changes could be made.
"If council says this isn't good
enough, are we going to look at it
again or are we saying it's going to
arbitration?" he asked.
Seip was talking about the Ontario
Civilian Police Commission's
arbitration program which would
enforce a binding decision during
conflicts around police budgets.
Seip explained that, in his
understanding, other police services
boards don't provide near the
amount of information to their
respective councils that the
Wingham Police Service Board
does. He went on to say that, when
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council members had voted to send
the budget back to the Police
Services Board, they all declined the
opportunity to give the board a
reference number to use as a goal.
"I guess the question Joan is
asking, more than fairly, is are we
telling council this is the final
budget?" he said.
While no members of the board,
save Seip, mentioned arbitration,
Gregoriadis did say he felt it would
be difficult for further cost -savings
to be found in the budget. Poole
agreed, saying he didn't believe he
could create a more efficient budget.
The board passed the budget, with
van der Meer saying council needs a
"clear message from this board that
we have done our due diligence and
this is the bottom line."
PUBLIC COMPLAINTS
Constable Mark Kirkby, President
of the Wingham Police Services
Association, was invited to speak at
the meeting by the board at Seip's
suggestion.
Kirkby explained that information
in the public realm "was getting a
little cloudy".
"All we asked for was two officers
[on at all times]," he said. "That was
agreed to. From there the decision
went to the police board, then to
council. Our association wasn't
asked to vote."
Kirkby explained that he had
received comments from the public
regarding the budget, which
concerned him because the officers
and the association have no control
over the budget presented by the
police services board to council.
"I wish you would pass that on to
council," he said to Seip. "This is
something that [council] has voted
for."
Kirkby said he knew that Seip had
made that issue clear a number of
times, but wanted council reminded
that the responsibility for this
situation doesn't fall on the
association or the board.
Seip said he would make that clear
to council when he presented the
budget, especially in light of police
officers receiving these comments.
"Council is getting some
questions," he said, "but the only
questions are why are... taxes going
up? That's the only question they're
getting asked."
Seip spoke at length about the fact
that council made the decision,
saying, in his opinion, council was
suffering from "sticker shock", or
frustration that the police budget had
increased so much.
He went on to say that no one
should be approaching police
officers with those kinds of
complaints and should, instead,
direct them to council through the
North Huron website.
"The police association should not
be trying to defend what they got
through negotiations, or a decision
they had no decision within,"
he said. "I believe you're fair in
asking to pass it along to council or
myself."
Seip said, hopefully after the
budget is presented to North Huron
Council on Tuesday at its regular
meeting, officers won't receive any
further comments.
Warm weather arrives
One of the local indicators of warm weather is the start of the Walton Raceway season, which
happened over the weekend with the raceway's first mud bog of 2018. The site relaunched last
week with a special event and then held the mud bog on the weekend. The experience was
smoother for some than it was for others, as this motorist found out when they couldn't quite
get through the mucky stuff. (Hannah Dickie photo)
_...,,,
00 infor local heroes
Citizen of the Year Award
111 33rd Annual
.
-� Open
i _Of . Nominations
1 i There are so many people out there who
do so much to improve their community.
This is your opportunity to show your
lat appreciation for all they do.
Each year a committee chooses an outstanding citizen from each of the Blyth and area and Brussels and area
communities to receive an award for contribution to the community. If you know someone you think should be
honoured, please fill in the form and send it in. You may attach a longer explanation of why you think your nominee
should win, if you like. If you have nominated someone before and they didn't win, we encourage you to submit again.
I nominate
Blyth Brussels
as Citizen of the year for & area & area
I feel she/he deserves this award because
Nomination Deadline July 31, 2018.
Name and phone number of nominator
info@northhuron.on.ca Fax: 519-523-9140 Box 429, Blyth, ON NOM 1H0 or Box 152 Brussels, ON NOG 1H0