A city councilor wants the Brantford Police Services Board to apologize on behalf of Chief Rob Davis for a comment that appeared in the local media.
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“I just want to address a comment that was made in the local media, which I think called into question the activities of this committee when it last met,” Coun. Dan McCreary said at the Dec. 13 meeting of the city’s finance committee. “The police chief, I believe, used the word ‘ambush’ to describe the interrogative nature of this committee’s activities.
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“I think the police services board should address that in the event that they chose to respond to the comments and questions this committee put to the chief when he was last here.”
McCreary said “an apology from the board might be ordered on his (Chief Davis’s) behalf.”
The police department is facing a $1.7 million deficit and members of the committee including McCreary, Coun. Gino Caputo and Mayor Kevin Davis asked the police chief numerous questions about the deficit at the committee’s November meeting.
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The committee then voted to send a list of 18 questions about the projected deficit to the police services board. It also asked for the police chief to appear at the Dec. 13 finance committee meeting.
The request was discussed at the Dec. 7 police services board and at that meeting the police chief characterized the Nov. 15 finance meeting as an “ambush.”
The police board declined the finance committee’s request to have Davis appear at the Dec. 13 finance committee meeting.
Meanwhile, Martin said new information provided to the police services board sheds light on the projected police budget deficit.
“I just want to inform the board of something we just found out at the police services board,” Martin said. “In the 2023 (police budget) the wage line was understated by more than $3 million.
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“If that had been stated correctly it would have resulted in a budget increase for 2023 of 13.3 per cent instead of the 7.4 per cent put forward.”
Had the numbers been correct, Martin said the police service would have a surplus of $1 million.
“If that was the case, I doubt this would be before the committee now,” Martin said. “I just wanted the finance committee to be aware of new information that was recently found out at the police services board.”
Coun. Gino Caputo questioned the amount of overtime paid to officials which accounts for about $1 million of the projected deficit.
“In my business, I have managers who have to send me a weekly report about hours,” Caputo said. “We track hours every day so we know where we’re at.
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“How do we get to a situation where we’re spending that amount of overtime and no one is aware of it?”
In response to the question about overtime, Martin said the board authorized the police chief to hire additional officers to cover for the officers who are on WSIB (Workplace Safety and Insurance Board) benefits due to PTSD – post-traumatic stress disorder.
Also, the Brantford Police Service couldn’t get enough seats at the police college to get officers trained, Martin said.
As a result, the service’s overtime mitigation plan was thwarted by the fact that the service couldn’t get officers trained to do the work at regular wages instead of overtime wages, he said.
Plans call for the deficit to be covered with funds from the city’s corporate contingency reserve.
Meanwhile, the finance committee on elected McCreary as it’s new chair on Dec. 13. He replaced Martin.
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