By Charlene Tebbutt

Councillors get heated over appointments to police board

Dec 11, 2018 | 2:12 PM

What was expected to be a routine decision approving new members to the City’s many boards and committees Monday night, turned into a heated debate over the appointment of new representatives to the Board of Police Commissioners.

Mayor Greg Dionne and Ward 7 Coun. Dennis Nowoselsky got into a debate at council’s regular meeting Monday, after Nowoselsky expressed his disappointment at not being reappointed to the police board and over the manner in which new board representatives were named.

At issue is the City’s announcement last week of new members to the board, including the pick for new chair. Five of the seven appointees are new, with just Dionne and Brent MacDonald staying on for another term.

Nowoselsky has raised concerns about the police budget in the past and said he believes that criticism was part of the reason he wasn’t reappointed. Nowoselsky said he had also advocated for a cut to the police service budget of 10 per cent for 2019.

“I raised some resolution to make the service better and some didn’t agree with me,” Nowoselsky told paNOW. “But the other thing is, we should have seen all the people applying and looked at the credentials of some that were left out … there isn’t one on there that has got the criteria or expertise I have, there isn’t.”

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Mayor Greg Dionne said the issue amounts to sour grapes. He said the way new members are appointed to boards and committees has changed over the years to allow for more engagement, adding that in past years, councillors were told what committees they would sit on during their term.

“We followed the rules,” Dionne said following the council meeting. “I’ve been more than open, I’ve involved other councillors with the decisions … I believe this is probably one of the best police commissions that I’m ever going to work with.”

Several councillors also questioned the announcement of the new commission before the appointments were approved by city council.

Ward 2 Coun. Terra Lennox-Zepp said it is inappropriate to publicly name the appointees before bringing the issue to council.

“Board members were announced to the press, and they had not yet been appointed, so that is a concern,” she said. “It just makes common sense that you would appoint your board, and then announce that it had been completed.”

Ward 6 Coun. Blake Edwards said the police board appointments were made public on Thursday in the agenda documents ahead of the council meeting. Edwards also sits on the Board of Police Commissioners as a council representative, and said he doesn’t have issues with the way the process was handled.

“There was nothing outside of the box,” Edwards said. “There are some very good appointments to that board … it’s a wide variety of people and we’re going to have some excellent discussions.”

Council eventually voted to approve the recommended board appointments for all City boards and committees Monday night. The terms start in January.

Appointments were also approved to various other committees including the golf course advisory group, planning committee, community services and the Prince Albert Arts Board.

Charlene.tebbutt@jbpg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt