City council briefs: police contract, library safety, Portage and Main stairwell, and more

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This article was published 14/07/2023 (834 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Council approves contract for police

CITY council has voted in favour of a new deal with members of the Winnipeg Police Service.

On Thursday, council approved an agreement that will see its employees increase their contribution to the pension plan from eight per cent to 9.6 per cent by 2025, while city contributions to the plan drop from 22 per cent to 20.2 per cent.

The collective agreement also features an annual wage increase of 3.3 per cent, with the deal beginning retroactively in January 2022 and ending in December 2025.

Safety plan for Millennium Library

Long-term measures to enhance security at the downtown Millennium Library, in the wake of a homicide inside the branch, have been approved.

City council voted Thursday to approve $1 million for added safety measures this year, including up to five more security guards for Millennium and up to eight more community safety hosts for the downtown facility and other branches.

The city would also create 4.2 temporary full-time staff positions and devote an additional two community safety hosts to reopen Millennium Library’s Community Connections space.

Next year’s budget will determine if the city can afford about $2.4 million per year, starting in 2024, to retain the added security guards, community safety hosts and Community Connections space.

On Dec. 11, 2022, 28-year-old Tyree Cayer was stabbed to death on the library’s main floor.]

Concourse stairwell to be removed

A stairwell to the concourse beneath Portage Avenue and Main Street will be torn down.

City council has now approved a call to spend $1.65 million to demolish the stairwell at the northeast corner of the intersection, a concrete bunker some complain is more often used for a bathroom than pedestrian access.

Owners of Richardson Centre say their building will still allow public access for pedestrians to reach the site.

Transit Plus won’t come ‘in-house’

CHANGES are on the way for Transit Plus but council has officially scrapped a plan to have city staff provide part of the service.

On Thursday, council rescinded a previous decision to have city staff provide up to 30 per cent of the accessible Transit service by 2024.

A city report estimated that would cost the city about $2.1 million more per year, when compared to the current fully contracted-out service.

The vote does aim to reduce the number of Transit Plus contracts, ensure future contracts require drivers to be direct employees of the contractor and mandate that funding boosts meant to cover wages are passed on to drivers.

Higher standard for snow clearing

CITY council has backed a call to ramp up snow-clearing for residential sidewalks, while moving forward a request to greatly increase the annual snow-clearing budget.

Council voted Thursday to refer the call to raise the annual ice and snow control budget to $54.2 million, from around $35 million, to next year’s budget process.

The vote also approves a plan to spend an extra $216,000 in 2023, plus $552,000 or more per year from 2024 through 2027, to ramp up snow-clearing for residential sidewalks and pathways.

Planning dept. on track for new hires

A call to provide a multimillion-dollar funding hike and dozens of additional staff for the planning, property and development department is moving forward.

City council voted Thursday to refer calls for 77 more full-time staff positions, and the money to pay for them, to next year’s budget process.

The departments says the resource boost is needed to meet strict permit timeframes being imposed by the provincial government.

The staffing hike would cost $6.5 million more in 2024.

— Joyanne Pursaga