Councillor wants extra cop for area of NOTL college campus

A Niagara-on-the-Lake councillor wants Niagara Regional Police to assign another full-time officer to the town and do more patrols and traffic enforcement in the Glendale area.

Coun. Paolo Miele made that motion Monday. It said increased policing is necessary due to residential and business growth in the town, the large number of tourists and college students living in the Glendale area.

While other councillors agreed with Miele that the town is paying too much for policing costs compared to other municipalities in the region due to the town’s high property assessments, they did not support his motion.

Coun. Jim Collard suggested that Miele withdraw the motion until “we can craft a motion that can actually work.”

“It’s too important to craft it on the fly,” agreed Coun. Maria Bau-Coote, who requested statistics and other information be included so “it looks well-planned and thought-out.”

Councillors also questioned whether there would be an additional cost to the town if the police services board and the Niagara Region approved increasing the town’s complement from two officers to three.

“I … feel we’re paying for it already,” said Miele. “I don’t think there should be any further costs.”

Coun. Jamie King pointed out that Chief Jeff McGuire had been “really clear about deployment strategies” when he addressed council last November.

Asked about the possibility of more patrols, the chief said the statistics don’t show a need for more police cars being assigned to the town. McGuire said only about one per cent of calls to the NRP from across the region come from Niagara-on-theLake.

“I have every confidence they will meet our needs as a community,” said King on Monday.

However, he added that the cost of policing continues to be a major issue for the municipality.

Lord Mayor Pat Darte said the town’s share of policing costs for the Niagara Region is higher than its annual operating budget.

Miele agreed to withdraw his motion and work on “a better one” for presentation to council at a later date.

Niagara-on-the-Lake councillors had a change of heart this week and approved most of the items requested by the Communities in Bloom committee for an upcoming international competition on the enhancement of green spaces.

Last week, councillors turned down the committee’s request of $77,000 for enhanced floral displays and extra staffing, saying it was too expensive and it should have been discussed before the 2017 budget was finalized in December.

However, on Monday, council agreed to spend $60,000 on hanging baskets, Christmas decorations and an additional parks labourer from the parking reserve budget.

Flags and banners, at a cost of $8,000, and a special events coordinator position budgeted at $9,000 were rejected.

Coun. Betty Disero told council that a lot of the work on enhancing the town’s green spaces is done by volunteers and much of the plant materials and other gardening supplies are donated by local businesses. Some examples she cited are the planting of 600 saplings and two large pollinator gardens, painting of garbage cans by students and a “SWAT” team that cleans up overgrown areas.

She said the local Canada sesquicentennial committee would be putting up its flags so it wouldn’t be necessary for the Communities in Bloom to put up their own and a few residents have volunteered to take on the special events co-ordinator’s duties.

“The (town) staff have been so tremendous and overworked to make expansions … so we could win the Communities in Bloom,” Disero said, referring to the high score the town achieved at the 2016 Canadian competition.

The evaluation of a five-bloom silver rating at the national level allowed the town the opportunity to compete internationally this year.

Coun. Jim Collard said the town currently has $450,000 in the parking reserve fund. He made a motion that the money spent on the Communities in Bloom program be reimbursed to the parking reserve after the surplus is calculated this spring.

His motion passed, but some councillors said that maintenance of the displays for Communities in Bloom should be in the operating budget or discretionary grants in the future years.

Registration for the international competition is due this month with the judging to take place in July.

The (town) staff have been so tremendous and overworked to make expansions … so we could win the Communities in Bloom.”