AMHERST – Amherst town council has taken the first step towards one of its strategic priorities - an in-depth study on the cost of policing in Amherst.
"Council is doing its due diligence on one of the town's major cost drivers," Mayor David Kogon said Monday, after council approved the terms of reference for the two-phase study.
The first phase includes reviewing the Amherst Police Department from an internal perspective. It will provide the information necessary for council to determine whether to proceed to the second phase.
Should council approve the second phase, Kogon noted it “may include seeking proposals from other service providers, but that is not necessarily the case."
Council has tasked a project committee, consisting of the town’s police chief, deputy police chief, the chief administrative officer and chief financial officer with conducting the first phase.
The project committee, in the first phase, will identify all of the services provided by the current police force as well as the costs of those services, and assess possible efficiency improvements. It will also analyze how the town’s policing costs and staffing levels compare to other jurisdictions and evaluate the long-term qualitative and quantitative impacts of remaining with the existing model and service level, including expected increases in costs.
In addition, the project committee will provide service delivery alternatives with costs and conduct a risk assessment of existing service delivery as well as any proposed modifications to service delivery.
In fulfilling their work, the project committee must conform to existing provincial and municipal legislation relating to police forces including the Police Act and Regulations, Municipal Government Act, the town’s procurement policy and the town’s proceedings of council policy.
The Phase 1 project committee is to file a report on its findings to council in October.
Should council decide to move on to Phase 2, the terms of reference call for the establishment of a review committee, which shall include a minimum of six members and a maximum of nine, all of whom must be appointed by a resolution of council.
During the second phase, the current policing needs and expectations of the community shall be established by the review committee by obtaining input from a number of the town’s stakeholders.
If the study proceeds to Phase 2, the review committee’s report is to be completed by May 31, 2019.
