Sunshine RCMP have seen a decrease in service calls and crimes against persons, and an increase in property crimes, specifically graffiti, in the Town of Gibsons.
Staff/Sgt. Vishal Mathura presented council with its first quarterly report on April 7. He said the decrease in service calls is a very good thing for the RCMP.
“I’m pleased to report we had a six per cent decrease in calls of service for the fourth quarter as compared to 2014. This is good news because we want fewer calls for service,” Mathura said. “This allows us to use our time doing proactive police work.”
Mathura went on to caution residents about leaving their car doors unlocked, especially overnight, as 90 per cent of about 30 recent car break-ins in Gibsons were a result of kids walking down a street and trying every car door until they found one unlocked.
“Overall I’m pleased with the crime rate — or crime reduction — in the Town of Gibsons,” Mathura said. “We just have to focus on property crimes.”
Procedural bylaw
After months of deliberating, the Town of Gibsons procedural bylaw review is finally complete and was accepted and approved by council April 7 with the changes proposed at the March 17 committee of the whole meeting.
Significant changes to the bylaw include: limits on speech at committee meetings have been removed, limits on speech at council meetings have been changed so that a person can not speak longer than five minutes at once, with a total of 15 minutes per item of business.
Council reports have been moved up on the agenda to follow administrative reports, and the time for individual councillors to speak has been reduced from five minutes to three.
Canoe museum
A potential collaboration between the Canadian Canoe Museum (CCM) in Peterborough, Ont. and the Town of Gibsons received unanimous support at committee of the whole (COW) on April 7.
Director of parks Wendy Gilbertson reported that Dr. James Raffan, director of development of the CCM and his colleagues have indicated they would like to develop a connection with Gibsons following a visit Raffan made last month when he was given a regal welcome and canoe tour of the area.
Council discussed the possibility of orchestrating this project around Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017.
“What a dynamite project, Wendy,” said Coun. Charlene SanJenko. “I really support this proposal.”
Gilbertson also recommended that a small committee be established to begin this process. Mayor Wayne Rowe agreed to send an official correspondence to the CCM supporting the collaboration.
Clean Air Society
Kari Mancer, interim executive director of the Sea to Sky Clean Air Society, presented COW with an implementation plan for managing air quality and requested funding for the project.
“It has recently been reviewed and now we are setting our implementation goals, which will set our actions for the next three to five years,” Mancer said.
Mancer identified three top priorities for the implementation plan: the first is to address mobile sources of air pollutants by promoting alternatives to driving such as cycling or car pooling.
The second is to reduce air emissions from residential fires by implementing a framework for burning and smoke control.
And third, the Clean Air Society would like to develop information resources such as annual air quality reports and fact sheets that explore new developments that could have potentially harmful emissions.
“Each of these actions require resources in the form of funding, in-kind support, collaboration with stakeholders and community buy-in,” Mancer added. “We hope the Town of Gibsons can contribute.”
Mancer’s request was carried forward to a future council meeting for further discussion.
