Security is on the way for the Timmins Transit station.
Giving the green light to the $55,440 contract was paired with talks about community safety at the Timmins councill table.
Neptune Security Services Incorporated won the bid for the contract at the downtown station located at 54 spruce St. S. It’s to control loitering, alcohol and drug use and protect transit staff.
A security person will work Monday to Saturday from 5:30 a.m. until 10 a.m., when the last college express bus leaves the terminal, and again from 8:30 p.m. to midnight.
The hours coincide with when transit dispatchers are working alone and supervisors or managers are not on-site, said Ken Krcel, Public Works and Environmental Services director.
Having security at the transit terminal has been planned for years, said Krcel, and the new manager is now carrying out the goals of the team.
“The main purpose of security is to move people along if they’re loitering or just hanging out there for no reason. If something gets out of control, we don’t expect the security officers to get physically involved or anything. They’ll ask people to move along and after that if we need assistance, they would call Timmins Police,” said Krcel.
Some council members question if the issues listed for security to address are better suited for the police.
Coun. Bill Gvozdanovic noted the cost of the contract means the security person will be making around $20 an hour.
“To pay somebody to control loitering, alcohol and drug use — to me, that is not a minimum wage job. That is a police matter and I will not support this,” he said.
The reasons for the city hiring security at the transit station are similar to what downtown businesses have been saying and who don’t have the ability to bring in security, said Coun. Lorne Feldman.
“I completely agree with what you’re saying about protection and safety and I think it just further validates a lot of the concerns of non-city businesses like our local business owners in downtown, they’ve been raising this,” he said.
While the city doesn’t keep stats on the issues noted in the report, Krcel said every time he’s at the transit station staff has to address a situation.
“I believe if you talk to our dispatchers, they’ve had to go in and move people along or call for assistance in the past,” he said.
“The reason why the washrooms were closed was because they were vandalized so bad that they were left unsafe for the public because people would go in there, lock themselves in the bathroom … then we couldn’t get in to get the washrooms available. I believe there is an increase in people loitering and causing disruption around the terminal otherwise I wouldn’t have supported the manager in pursuing this security services.”
The transit washrooms are still closed and will be until renovations are complete. At that point, Krcel said the new washroom design won’t allow people to lock themselves in.
Providing security is a service Krcel said the city owes to employees working alone in the early mornings or late nights.
“There’s an obligation for us to make sure that they can do so safely,” said Krcel.
In the next little while, Black bluntly told council that there are going to be discussions on the issues going on downtown.
Campaigning for the October municipal election, he said the most important issue residents want to be addressed is community safety.
“If we can’t take care of that at our own city facilities and take care of our own staff and people accessing city facilities, then that’s a problem. I appreciate you for acknowledging there are concerns in our downtown area and our transportation hub that serves our city and bringing forward a request to help alleviate some of this,” he said.
For it being a policing issue, he noted that the Timmins Police Service is short of officers and that has to be part of the discussion and strategy to address the issues as well.
Last year, Timmins Police was given the go-ahead to increase the number of officers to 96 from 90. At the time, the service was trying to fill about 10 positions to meet the complement of 90. This week’s police services board meeting agenda included the resignation of another officer.
SEE: Police pitch 4.89% budget increase
Security is provided at other municipal facilities.
The airport is another transportation hub and requires security, said Krcel.
“This isn’t necessarily outside of the norm for the corporation,” said Mayor Michelle Boileau after mentioning the Timmins Public Library also hires security.
The main library building is on Second Avenue downtown Timmins, behind the Timmins Transit terminal.
Watch the full conversation on the item below:
