North Battleford Fire Chief Lindsay Holm at council's online meeting this week. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Angela Brown

Fire chief report

Valleyview Towers among locations with drop boxes for needles

Mar 12, 2021 | 2:21 PM

Valleyview Towers in North Battleford is reported to be one of the locations in the city with drop boxes for needles.

During city council’s meeting this week, North Battleford Fire Chief Lindsay Holm said he has offered assistance to Battlefords Housing Authority general manager Denis Lavertu to deal with some rental properties having some issues.

“I have worked with Mr. Lavertu, with respect to a couple of properties, mainly at the Valleyview Towers,” he said. “They were having some issues with some needles being dropped around. We did provide them with wall-mounted units that people could put used needles into. My staff have keys for those boxes. So when they get filled my staff will go over there and retrieve them off of the walls and put up a new box for them…We will come and retrieve them so they get disposed of safely.”

The issue came up after Coun. Len Taylor said when Lavertu was at city council he said Battlefords Housing Authority have now instigated a daily needle pick up around the towers and other housing authority properties. He enquired if the housing authority worked with the fire department to develop their pick up program for their properties.

Holm said in the meeting the fire department has been working with the housing authority and other organizations so they can do their own needle pick up work safely.

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The fire department has stopped picking up needles for all rental properties in the city when a suite is vacated where a tenant had been using needles.

As a result the fire department has seen a decline in its numbers.

“If they are retrieving needles on their own, they have no obligation to report that to me,” Holm said. “So as more and more people are able to deal with needles on their own, we will see some drops in numbers. It’s something that I am expecting.”

City parks staff and employees at the waste management facility have also been trained to do their own needle pick ups safely.

“We trained other people to take strain off the department,” Holm said.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW