Tensions flare at meeting over councillor's comments about Hamilton police budget
CBC
Tensions between the chair of Hamilton Police Service's board and a councillor flared Thursday at a meeting over comments the councillor made about the police service's proposed budget.
For months, Coun. Cameron Kroetsch, who is a member of the board and vice chair of its budget committee, has spoken out about how he feels the board doesn't scrutinize the police service's budget enough.
His list of criticisms includes:
This year, the police pitched a $213 million budget, a $20 million increase from last year's budget. The police service is the city's largest budget item.
Pat Mandy, chair of the police board, and Frank Bergen, the city's police chief, presented the budget to the city's general issues committee on Monday.
During the meeting, Kroetsch, once again voiced his concerns.
"The board in no way reviewed the budget in detail," he said.
At Thursday's police board meeting, Mandy addressed some of Kroetsch's comments, saying they "weren't fact."
She said board members received "ample time" to review the proposed budget and felt the four budget committee meetings weren't all required to take place before the budget vote. "So I'm not quite sure why that's a concern," she said.
When Kroetsch tried to respond to her comments, Mandy said he could only respond to her comments when the board went into a private session, also known as in-camera.
Mayor Andrea Horwath, who sits on the board, said Kroetsch should be able to respond publicly.
Dr. Anjali Menezes, a member of the board and budget committee, also challenged Mandy.
"Is it just that the chair can voice their own, individual, personal opinions and, quite frankly, slander certain board members in this particular part of the meeting so that those board members are not allowed to respond? Or was this part of a complaint because there's a complaint process," Menezes said.
Mandy said she didn't want "personal back and forth bashing" and her intent was to clarify information that was already public "and keeps being reaffirmed as fact."
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