Saint John city council chambers. (Image: Ben Burnett)
Saint John Common Council is looking for answers after receiving the police force’s $24-million budget for 2021.
The budget was submitted after being approved by the police commission earlier this month. However, councillors were left with questions as the budgeting process does not require the commission to provide a public presentation before council.
Councillor David Hickey said he would like to see more transparency from the force.
“At the end of the day, regardless of governance, we as city councillors are responsible for the budget,” Hickey said. “Our job’s to be accountable to the citizens of the city for it, and I want to make sure that (money) doesn’t go unheard of through the public, and through council.”
After approving a receive-and-file motion on the document, council then passed a motion tabled by Hickey to invite a representative from the police commission to provide further information on the 2021 budget.
Hickey said he’s familiar with the process and wasn’t shocked by the lack of clarity on how the money will be spent. But he believes discussion and activism around police transparency, spurred by the Black Lives Matter movement last spring, shows transparency needs to be a priority.
“How do we make sure that the last year and the conversations we’ve had don’t go unchecked and don’t go unanswered?” Hickey asked.
Gary Sullivan is the council’s representative on the police commission. He says the board would be more than happy to have more opportunity to converse with the city.
“I think (Hickey’s motion) will be welcomed, and they will love to be able to have that conversation and be able to explain things further,” said Sullivan. “Not just to council, but also to the public.”
Several councillors echoed Hickey’s concerns with the current budgeting process, including Greg Norton.
Norton said he’d dissolve the commission ‘in a heartbeat’ because of his frustration with the lack of information provided on the operating budget each year.
“The governance structure that’s in place fails the taxpayer that’s paying the bill, and it does not provide the transparency that should be afforded,” Norton said.
He is still in favour of a public safety commission that he proposed nearly two years ago, which would provide oversight into the city’s protective services.
Mayor Don Darling repeated his frustration with the police commission, two weeks after announcing his resignation from the board in a Medium post.
“I’d echo a lot of the comments here tonight. I don’t think the organization is open and transparent and proactive enough,” he said.
The mayor challenged the budget’s $21 million earmarked for staffing and argued the document is not financially sustainable.
Deputy Mayor Shirley McAlary defended the police commission’s budgeting process, saying it’s always been done this way.
“We’ve had this discussion that we’re having right now many, many times in the last nine years,” she said. “We’ve never wanted to act on it. So I’m not going to try to criticize the board of police commissioners while they have the structure in place and they’re only following what they’re supposed to do.”
McAlary said they can change the process if they want, but that would be a separate discussion.
Hickey says he looks forward to a representative from the police commission appearing before council. He says his motion was tabled to provide an olive branch, not to be combative.
“I’m confident there are measures the police commission has taken (to address concerns.) This isn’t a malicious effort by any means. I just want to know what (those steps) are, and I think the public wants to know what they are.”
