The task force set up by mayor Ian Hamilton to promote a safer community has met for the first time and more meetings are to come.
Hamilton told council that the Safer Communities Task Force has come off a well-attended initial meeting. He told reporters the task force is now moving forward with additional "facilitated strategy planning."
The task force has decided to engage a consultant in a planning facilitator role to "help lead us through a process so we can better define our goals and our objectives," Hamilton said. As well, the consultant will help develop a strategy for achieving those goals.
Another meeting of the task force is to happen in the next four to six weeks, Hamilton said. That meeting will be a strategic planning session.
The task force was announced in the wake of a number of highly publicized crime incidents in the Battlefords early in 2010. A number of different community groups including justice, social services, the health region and schools are represented, and Hamilton is hoping to see participation expand to include more First Nations and other groups in the future.
