A proposed bylaw that would see organizers carry the cost of RCMP officers to attend special events has been defeated by Prince George councillors.
The proposed cost recovery for police officers at special events bylaw, which came from a report from the Standing Committee on Finance and Audit in January, was back on the table at council’s Monday night meeting (April 29).
The bylaw would see a $115 per hour per RCMP member fee for the recovery of overtime and administration costs associated with attendance at a special event.
Ongoing police attendance at a special event falls outside of the normal staffing and duties of RCMP members on a regular watch.
At its Feb. 4 meeting, council returned the bylaw to administration to seek clarity on the definition of ‘special event.’
“With the arrival of this report it hasn’t changed my mind or added any additional information that would change my way of thinking,” said Coun. Terri McConnachie. “I think it would be a detriment to the events that we already host.”
The report defined “licensed special event” as any one time or reoccurring public or private event, gathering, festival, competition, contest, exposition or similar type of activity, held outdoors or indoors on City of Prince George or private property where licensed alcohol sales and service is permitted and expected to result in impact to traffic or pedestrian flows or road closures, an event on private property but has a public impact or noise that will likely exceed permitted noise levels.
“You look at some of the big events and after talking to different folks, it could quadruple their security costs,” said Coun. Brian Skakun. “There’s nothing wrong with being innovative, and looking at ways to recover costs but in this case, I don’t think it’s justified.”
Coun. Cori Ramsay said this bylaw could be the difference between whether or not business or non-profits could be able to run events in the city.
“You look at the revenue from this could be a couple of thousand dollars but the result of losing out on an event for a city could be several hundred thousands of dollars,” said Ramsay.
However, Coun. Garth Frizzell did express support of the bylaw.
“The cost of the police overtime is going to be born; it’s just a question of is it going to be born by the people who are profiting from it, or is it going to be born by the city of Prince George,” said Frizzell.
But when it came time to vote on the first three readings of the cost recovery bylaw, it was quickly defeated by the majority of councillors.
