By Angela Brown

Business woman expresses concerns about safety downtown at NB council

Jan 15, 2019 | 7:45 AM

A local business woman expressed her concerns about downtown safety when she spoke at North Battleford council’s meeting Monday.

Jacey Huebert said she has been harassed on an ongoing basis by street people while making runs to the bank.

She asked if the city can do something to improve the situation, and requested having a peace officer or Community Safety Officer (CSO) conduct a foot patrol for an hour or two in the afternoons when the street appears to be the busiest.

“I’ve had countless interactions with people downtown – some good, some bad, and also some terrifying,” she told council.

“It’s scary,” she added.

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Huebert said she has called the RCMP for help in the past but by the time police arrive at the scene the person causing the disturbance had left.

Mayor Ryan Bater said the city is making the downtown a priority.

“We recognize the need for more presence – especially people in uniform,” he said.

Following council he said he is aware of the situation. Bater added the city’s downtown is in a state of transition, and he hopes the beautification project in part will help make the downtown safer.

He also hopes the new rooming house project planned for 98 St. will help move some of the homeless people away from the downtown core to alleviate the situation.

“Patrols downtown have been elevated significantly in recent months,” he told battlefordsNOW. “We hope that that will continue, including foot patrols. We feel that just having a presence downtown makes a difference.”

Last year while also managing calls for service, the CSOs completed about 270 total overall patrols, compared to about 160 the year prior, according to the city.

Bater said council will “continue this conversation” about looking at ways to make the downtown safer.

“It’s not something that’s being ignored,” he added. “We are doing what we can with the resources available to do that.”

Bater said the city hopes Huebert will be able to return to council in six months time to report whether her experiences have improved. 

Here are some other highlights from Monday’s council meeting. 

Radio advertising

Council agreed to an enhanced radio advertising partnership with the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group and to reduce the size of its City Bulletin advertising in the local newspaper, as recommended by administration. (Coun. Kelli Hawtin did not participate in this vote or discussion due to a conflict of interest.)

From its 2019 communications budget, the city will allocate $25,000 to a radio broadcast plan. It will reduce its newspaper advertising to $25,000 from about $50,000 currently. The city will use $10,000 for ‘other and emergency contingency’ allocation. It will add another $5,000 to the radio plan from the city’s community safety budget, bringing the full radio plan up to $30,000 value in total.

City Planner Ryan Mackrell said reallocating the funds will not impact the city’s budget. Mackrell had been working on the proposal with the city’s communications manager and the director of planning and development.

“We want to get more residents engaged,” said Mackrell.

The radio plan will include daily radio ads, promotional stories, monthly morning shows with the mayor, and live-on-location participation at some of the city’s public events, as well as advertising on battlefordsNOW.com.

Mackrell said the aim is to have a “more diversified and stronger communications strategy.”

Mayor Ryan Bater said following council the strategy will help “elevate the profile of a lot of the services and programs available from the city.”  

“Council is going to try this out and see if the public notices what’s available to them,” he said. “This was a unanimous decision by council to proceed with this.”

Bater added there are many programs and services available to people who live here, and to people who visit, but not everybody is aware of them all. 

“We want them to know everything that’s available to them, and how great it is to live here,” he said. “This will help with that.” 

Bater pointed out through radio advertising the Twinkle Tour Christmas lights event in North Battleford was a success. It attracted 200 vehicles and three bus loads of participants, because “the word got out.”

“We want to continue that with other programs and services we offer,” the mayor said. 

The city’s Community Perception Survey also saw significantly increased numbers, going from just over 100 surveys completed by the public to 500 in a matter of days after it was promoted on the radio.  

Council remuneration  

City council will be examining proposed adjustments to council’s salary at an upcoming meeting. The city needs to advertise the proposed council remuneration policy to the public first, so the item will return to council for discussion in two weeks. The proposed policy is to set the mayor’s remuneration at 70 per cent of that of a member of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly’s, effective Jan. 1, 2019; a councillor’s remuneration set at 35 per cent of the mayor’s remuneration; to allow for annual increases based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI); and to provide a “mechanism for accountability” for members not attending council meetings.

In 2018 a Saskatchewan MLA made $96,183 per year, so 70 per cent of that amount would be $67,328. As well, set penalties are being proposed for individuals missing a certain number of meetings.  

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow