Committee hears parking enforcement began wearing body cameras in 2021
Saskatoon city council's planning, development and community services committee met Monday. Members dealt with topics ranging from a move last year to have city parking enforcement officers wear body cameras, to a proposal to split up a public art project planned near the landfill.
BODY CAMERAS
While Saskatoon police just started a pilot project in March testing body-worn cameras, the city's parking enforcement officers have already been using them. Members of the committee learned about the measure during a year-end report from the community standards department. Lynne Lacroix, the city's general manager of community services, framed it as a workplace safety decision in response to assaults against staff. She said the move came after consultation with police on how to better protect the parking enforcement team. Footage collected by the devices is subject to provincial privacy law.
The committee heard that city staff are still working out how to measure the units' effectiveness, but anecdotal reports so far suggest the cameras are helping to reduce confrontations between parking enforcement and drivers.
A city spokesperson told The Starphoenix that 23 cameras were bought for the parking officers at a cost of about $4,000. The cost comes in below a threshold requiring a public tender and bidding process.
PUBLIC ART
The committee heard a proposal to split up a proposed $275,000 public artwork for the Recovery Park facility set to open near the landfill.
City staff now plan to split the art budget across three smaller pieces. One of these will still be at Recovery Park, while the other two will be installed at locations to be determined.
According to a report detailing the plan, having the artworks spread out around the city is meant to better “help broaden the overall message of environmental sustainability and the awareness of the new Recovery Park.” The waste diversion hub is set to open in 2023, and is meant to help the city reach a goal of reducing the amount of material put in the landfill by 70 per cent.
NAMING PROGRAM PAUSE
The committee endorsed a plan to temporarily halt new submissions for names for city streets, facilities and parks. City staff requested the pause following last year's council decision to rename John A. Macdonald Road over the former prime minister's connection to the residential schools program.
The break is meant to give staff time to focus on the intricacies of the John A. Macdonald renaming, alongside a full review of the overall naming program. The review is expected to generate policy options for council to consider for handling future renaming requests.
The city's current list has well over 100 approved names, with between eight and 12 usually used in any given year. Council is expected to have a final vote on the matter later this month.