MOOSE JAW — The Board of Police Commissioners held a special meeting on Nov. 28 to welcome the three new city council representatives and elect a chairperson and vice-chairperson.
Mayor James Murdock and councillors Jamey Logan and Dawn Luhning each took their oath of office under the watchful eye of legal counsel Destiny Diehl, with citizen commissioners Trish Martynook and Kelly Baxter and senior police leadership watching and listening.
The oath reads, “I, (member’s name), do swear that I will faithfully and honestly fulfill the duties devolving upon me as member of the Moose Jaw Board of Police Commissioners, and that I will not ask or receive any sum of money, services, recompense or any matter or thing whatever, directly or indirectly, in return for what I have done or may do in the discharge of any duties of my said office, except such remuneration as made be allowed me by law or lawful order.
“And further, I will not reveal or disclose any confidential police information that may come from my attention except in relation to the execution of the duties of my office.”
Each of the three new members then signed the oath, with Diehl authorizing them.
Afterward, the board elected Murdock as the chairman and Luhning as vice-chairwoman.
Police leadership then presented the proposed 2025 operating and capital budgets — which the previous board approved during a previous meeting — to inform the three new members of what the police service was requesting next year.
During the presentation, Chief Rick Bourassa told the board that the province was forcing the Moose Jaw Police Service to pay almost $232,000 to cover the next-generation 911 system, something the provincial government had always done before.
Continuing, the chief said he met with Justice Minister Tim McLeod to discuss the issue and planned to meet with the Moose Jaw North MLA again. From that meeting, he hoped to learn whether the province would pay that cost or whether the board — and taxpayers — would be on the hook.
“So it’s a typical download (from the province),” said Luhning. “They want to offload this onto municipalities.”
The province normally pays for the 911 service with a fee tacked onto residents’ telephone bills, but it’s now forcing municipalities to pay because this is a new technology, said Deputy Chief Rick Johns. Therefore, discussions were required to determine who would fund this change and how.
Bourassa noted that this is not the first time the province has upgraded the 911 system, but it is the first time that the provincial government has passed these costs onto police services.
Another budget item that caught Luhning’s attention was the hiring of eight new provincially funded officers, with the commissioner asking about each member’s salary.
Police leadership replied that the province was paying $118,425 per officer, with an annual increase of two per cent. While the ministry would start providing the $912,000 in April, the police service had budgeted $718,000 of that until December because of the differences in fiscal years.
The next police board meeting is Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 8 a.m.
