Councillors decry lack of action on downtown task force goals

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This article was published 22/11/2023 (1034 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Getting a transitional housing project moving was the City of Brandon’s greatest success in achieving the recommendations laid out by the downtown safety and wellness task force, city manager Ron Bowles told Brandon City Council at its Monday meeting.

Some councillors, however, were less than pleased about how other recommendations have been handled.

Last December, the 12 members of the task force provided the city with a list of goals and recommendations to work toward, with the aim of tackling issues facing downtown Brandon.

After those recommendations were delivered, the task force was put on pause and is set to reconvene this January to assess the progress made.

Ahead of that, Bowles delivered an update on what has been achieved so far.

The first recommendation was to create “supportive and transitional housing facilities with Indigenous and trauma-informed supports,” which Bowles said was being accomplished through the project on 16th Street North undertaken by the John Howard Society and Westman Youth for Christ.

Though the 24-unit facility has yet to be constructed, the city sold the land it will be built on for $1, the provincial government has contributed $4 million and Ottawa has contributed another $5 million. The province also targeted $2 million so that a sobering assessment centre could be part of the project.

Last Thursday, the John Howard Society held a roast of Mayor Jeff Fawcett to kickstart fundraising for the remaining money needed to make the facility a reality.

Tasked by Coun. Bruce Luebke (Ward 6) to identify the biggest item within the city’s control that it didn’t achieve from the list, Bowles said it was in providing access to washrooms to the vulnerable population downtown.

“I agree wholeheartedly,” Luebke said. “I think that was something we could have dealt with earlier this year if we’d gotten on the ball a little bit more.”

The council member representing downtown Brandon, Coun. Kris Desjarlais (Ward 2), said he believed the city had failed to achieve the goals of rehabilitating sidewalks and improving lighting.

“We’ve once again kicked the can down the road for sidewalks for the second year in a row,” Desjarlais said.

“We know this is an area that has been brought up several times from folks who have a difficult time navigating our downtown and sidewalks, so I would like us to prioritize these sidewalks next year.”

A report for Monday’s meeting said the engineering department plotted the location and quality of illumination for each downtown light standard using geographic information system computer mapping and it was determined that all areas receive adequate illumination.

Desjarlais said he was not convinced with that assessment, asking if staff had actually taken a look at the lights in person.

He also expressed disappointment about the lack of progress with the washrooms at Princess Park and that the city didn’t hold more regular check-ins regarding the implementation of the task force’s suggestions.

“A lot of this isn’t under our jurisdiction, but if it’s in our recommendations there should have been more action on some of these things, the mobile (outreach) unit for example,” he said.

He added that he was concerned that the city is not getting what it is paying for with regards to the private security the city has hired to work downtown.

On the sidewalk front, Fawcett said sidewalk improvements will be pushed next spring.

The mayor noted that one of the suggestions — tiered policing levels — has been accomplished by the introduction of the Brandon Community Cadets program through the Brandon Police Service.

Another recommendation was to address unsightly properties and derelict buildings. On that front, Fawcett said the long-abandoned former Esso gas station on Rosser Avenue has been fenced off and will be dismantled shortly.

Earlier in the meeting, council heard a report from the Shannon Saltarelli, the city’s community housing and wellness co-ordinator, about her work with local social services and stakeholders to create a community safety and well-being plan.

Fawcett said that partnership was not in place when the task force presented its recommendations.

“By putting it in place, we are trying to put together a more cohesive unit,” Fawcett said.

“With that, we have the community mobilization steering committee, we have the (Community Wellness Collaborative), there’s a lot of redundancies on that. This is not the city’s initiation, but we are working with the community on how to pull together to create one stronger entity.”

The mayor added that he’ll be speaking with provincial Justice Minister Matt Wiebe about extending Winnipeg’s Downtown Community and Safety Partnership to Brandon.

Addressing some of the criticism, Bowles reminded council that the department working on implementing the report was, until recently, comprised of just a single person. Luebke rebutted, saying that some of the issues like the Princess Park washrooms could have been handled by other city departments.

The agenda document states that the bathroom issue is scheduled to be discussed at the Dec. 4 meeting of council.

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