A new chair is in place for the North Battleford HUB.
She is Tonya Browarny who took over as chairperson as of June 1.
Browarny is a 10-year North Battleford resident who has worked at North Battleford Youth Centre and is currently employed by Prairie North Health Region. She is a counsellor with Child and Youth Services.
Browarny has also begun her practicum project for a Master’s in Social Work and will be working closely with the city’s SAGE (Safety, Acceptance, Guidance, Empowerment) group during her practicum on the topic of community engagement.
Browarny made a presentation to council Monday that focused on community engagement.
She takes over as chair from Kevin Steinborn, who recently retired as deputy fire chief with the City of North Battleford. Karen Hudjic will be staying on as co-chair.
In his report, Herb Sutton, city community safety co-ordinator, thanked Steinborn for his leadership and dedication to the HUB initiative.
Sutton also presented his monitoring report covering the months of May and June 2016 and here are some highlights:
Sutton spoke about the crime free multi housing program going on in the city.
Macro Properties has been confirmed as the first official member of the program and Sutton had given a sign to Ramona Maraj, property manager, to make it official.
Sutton reports Maraj has also been involved in some of the safety initiatives they have going. He notes Macro Properties is “very excited” and proudly displaying the new Crime Free Multi Housing sign in their office.
Sutton hopes with positive media attention a number of other property managers will come forward and also show interest in the program.
Sutton also reported two new applications have come in for Citizens on Patrol — not many, but a start. The hope is to get to 15 by the fall. Training for those new applicants is to happen next week on June 21. Sutton also reported Citizens On Patrol is looking at more targeted patrols including in particular high-crime areas of the city, as well as using portable radar signs to monitor traffic in certain areas such as school zones. There, Citizen on Patrol could collect information on what they are seeing and report findings to the RCMP.
The Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Committee has been busy lately working to initiate getting parties and barbecues in the city’s neighbourhoods.
Four barbecues are planned for June in city playgrounds and Sutton reported one of them took place last Friday in the Connaught area. He reports about 130 hot dogs were cooked up at that event.
In other news, Concern for Youth has moved their offices to their new location at the Don Ross Centre and plans are under way for teen programming to happen from there.
In his written report, Sutton also reported that there are no further updates about confirmed sustainable funding for The Lighthouse Serving the Battlefords. However, The Lighthouse manager did report to Sutton she had two “excellent meetings” with representatives from Social Services, and that she was optimistic there continues to be conversations about sustainable funding.
