Corman Park Council voted at a meeting on Monday, December 7 to earmark $6,000 in next year’s municipal budget to help pay for commissionaires to monitor Meewasin Valley Authority (MVA) sites in an effort to mitigate growing vandalism and criminal activity.
In a presentation to the Corman Park Council meeting December 7, MVA Chief Executive Officer Andrea Lafond said the non-profit agency believes increased monitoring and data collection of illegal activities at conservation sites along the river valley is needed to help police deal with the problem.
The MVA is committing $6,000 toward a proposal to monitor rural public access sites in the Saskatoon area within the jurisdiction of the RM of Corman Park and within the MVA’s ‘conservation zone.’ The agency is seeking additional funding, to a total of $30,000, from the City of Saskatoon, Wanuskewin Heritage Park, and the RM of Corman Park.
The monitoring of the sites would be during weekends in the summer months when activity is at a peak at the rural sites. Commissionaires would be employed to patrol the sites and report infractions and issues to the RCMP. These issues would include alcohol or substance abuse, littering, fires vandalism, trespassing and other violations.
Lafond said some sites within the RM of Corman Park are owned by the City of Saskatoon, including the Beaver Creek Conservation Area, Cranberry Flats, Paradise Beach and Chief Whitecap Park.
Lafond said Saskatoon has committed $6,000 and Wanuskewin has pledged $3,000 to the project. She requested the RM contribute $15,000.
However, councillors felt it was unfair to ask the RM to contribute such a hefty amount, particularly since it is not a member of the MVA, having withdrawn from the organization in 1981. (The MVA was founded in 1979 and the RM of Corman Park was a founding member at that time.)
Division 6 councillor Bas Froese-Kooijenga agreed there is an issue of crime and vandalism at many of the rural sites, and felt the project to increase monitoring of those sites would be beneficial to police investigations.
“The idea is good, but I don’t agree with the inequitable cost sharing arrangement proposed,” he said.
A motion by Division 5 councillor Art Pruim to match the City of Saskatoon contribution of $6,000 was passed by council.