By Kevin J. Sabo
For the Advance
An RCMP update and introduction to the new Coronation detachment commander highlighted the June 24th council meeting.
The meeting opened with an introduction to council of Coronation RCMP detachment commander Corp. Jason Smith.
Smith, who took over as detachment commander four months ago after the seat was vacated in June of 2018, took the opportunity to introduce himself to council and provide a comparison of year to date crime statistics versus 2018.
Traffic collisions are down, eight in 2019 vs. 12 in 2018.
Due to an increased focus on traffic offences, 36 tickets have been issued to date in 2019, versus just 11 during the same time last year.
Charges for failure to comply with court release conditions are up as well due to a renewed focus on habitual offenders, with seven to date in 2019, vs. just three to date in 2018.
Overall, call volume for the Coronation detachment has remained fairly steady, with the officers responding to 154 calls to date against 153 during the same period last year.
“We are increasing enforcement of prolific offenders,” said Smith. “The numbers will go up as we continue to watch them.”
When asked by council what could be done about the speeders in town Smith replied, “We are doing increased traffic enforcement, but the issue is hard to deal with in the community.”
Other highlights of the June 24th council meeting:
• Castor’s Busy Beaver Daycare has issued a letter to the Town with concerns about the policy of allowing some five-year-old children into the Camp Beavertail summer camp program, drawing children away from the daycare.
The Town currently accepts five-year-old kids on a case by case basis. The decision was made to re-evaluate the practice after this summer’s program, and potentially partner with the daycare in upcoming years.
• The Town received a letter from a resident in regard to the deteriorating sidewalk on her block. Due to current fiscal constraints, the Town will put either the removal or replacement of the sidewalk in question into the 2020 fiscal budget.
• Council has approved a request by the Good Sam RV Club to host a rally in Castor in September of 2020.
The group will be given permission to camp on property near the community hall and the driving range, if required.
• East Central 911 is maintaining the per capita cost of service at $6.40, where it has been since 2017. The backup 911 dispatch centre in Lloydminister is complete and operational.
• CAO Christopher Robblee updated council on bylaw enforcement. In total, five 72-hour notices have been sent out, with two needing to be enforced by the Town.
• As a level of protection for council, a procedure has been changed in regard to delegations. Delegations will now be received as information, with no further discussion on the matter until the subsequent meeting.
• As part of the Municipality Accountability Review, CAO Robblee has begun preparing the requisite changes needed in the bylaws. Current bylaws being reviewed and amended or replaced are the Subdivision Appeal Board Bylaw and the Fire Bylaw.