As work on the Community Safety and Well-Being Plan moves ahead, details on a public meeting are expected soon.
Timmins Police Chief John Gauthier said the final dates and locations for the community engagement sessions are being finalized and should be confirmed by the end of the month. A public survey is being developed as well.
He told the Timmins Police Services Board it will be a chance for people to let the committee known what their greatest concerns are.
The Police Services Act requires municipalities to have a Community Safety and Well-Being Plan by Jan. 1, 2021.
Trimedia Consulting Inc. is developing the local document and work on it started last year. It will identify priority risk factors, strategies to reduce the potential risks, and set measurable outcomes.
So far, Gauthier said most of the work has been asset mapping. It's to make sure different community stakeholders aren't duplicating work, and seeing where they can work together.
He said the survey is to get the public's thoughts on community safety beyond just policing and touches on homelessness, mental health, addictions, and more.
Timmins Mayor George Pirie is impressed with the work that's gone into the plan, and the response from agencies that have been contacted.
"Certainly I have great expectations for this process, and there’s certainly great expectations in the community as evidenced by the emails that are coming back and forth on this,” said Pirie.
As the police services board works on updating the department's business plan, Gauthier said they are considering piggybacking on the Community Safety and Well-Being Plan engagement sessions.
The last three-year business plan expired in 2019.
Gauthier said they've taken a look at the old document to identify goals to be remet.
“Further we are preparing community survey questions that will be put out online with Marc Depatie’s help once the board representatives are happy with the questions on the survey we will pump that out through our website as well as Facebook,” he said.
Gauthier said he's reached out to the Community Safety and Well-Being Plan co-chairs to see if there's an opportunity to have a break out room or something specific to policing at the engagement session.
