The Municipality of Grey HIghlands is going to establish an overall community safety committee.
At a committee of the whole meeting on July 24, Grey Highlands council voted in favour of a plan to merge the municipality’s Road Safety and Community Partnership Committee with the Grey Highlands Safety Committee, which was to be created in the wake of Grey Highlands losing its own stand alone police services board.
The committee of the whole session was held for council to discuss and potentially amend/update the terms of reference for the municipality’s 18 boards and committees.
In a report on the topic, municipal staff recommended the two safety oriented committees be amalgamated to form an overall safety committee that would take a “holistic, municipal-wide” approach to safety issues.
The merger idea was well-received by council, although there were some questions about how to proceed and what the mandate of the committee would be.
Coun. Joel Loughead, who serves on the road safety and community partnership committee, said the group has done good work.
“We see at the grassroots level some of the issues that need attention,” said Loughead, although he noted a committee with a broader mandate for overall safety was an opportunity to “reinvigorate” the membership of the group, which he admitted has struggled with attendance at recent meetings.
“This is an important committee, with important work to do,” said Loughead.
Mayor Paul McQueen said the intention of the yet-to-be-created Grey Highlands Safety Committee was to fill the vacuum left by the end of the local police services board, which has been replaced by a larger regional board for municipalities in Bruce and Grey counties that are policed by the OPP.
“If there is a concern of Grey Highlands it was to have the ability to have a delegation to the (larger) detachment (police) board,” said McQueen, of the planned committee.
Deputy Mayor Dane Nielsen favoured the merger, but said the group needed a well-defined mandate. Nielsen said the current road safety and community partnership committee often makes specific recommendations to council about speed limits changes or adding stop signs to certain roads.
“Are we talking about policy or an action group?” Nielsen asked. “Do we understand what it is we’re trying to get out of that group?”
Coun. Nadia Dubyk said the committee’s mandate could be decided later, when the terms of reference come forward.
“How do we structure it so we get the output we want?” Dubyk asked. “To me, it’s not yet clear. It does need more thought.”
The new committee will be called the Grey Highlands Community Safety Committee.
