BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association
Your Data Your Rights
The Town of Three Rivers council unanimously voted to move ahead with a video surveillance policy at the April 14 regular council meeting.
The camera systems are installed at several municipal buildings and facilities and the policy will be effective immediately.
Mayor Debbie Johnston said the policy is being implemented for two main reasons.
“We’ve had a lot of vandalism cases, many broken streetlights. So, we thought it would be in the best interest of the municipality,” Johnston said.
The cameras will also be helpful in keeping people safe around waterfront areas, she added.
The cameras are located at Town Hall, Garden of the Gulf Museum, the splashpad, Cavendish Farms Wellness Centre, the sewer plant, maintenance building, day docks landing, Georgetown maintenance, Georgetown town office, Cardigan ballfields and West Street washrooms.
Video surveillance will comply with privacy laws, respect individual privacy rights and promote transparency and accountability in municipal operations.
“All footage collected will be handled responsibly, with stringent measures in place to protect personal information,” CAO John Jamieson said. “Surveillance footage will be securely stored, access will be limited to authorized personnel and any use of the footage will be in strict accordance with this policy and relevant privacy regulations.”
Jamieson said there is no cost other than staff time to implement the policy. The CAO will monitor the cameras and the staff will only have limited involvement in its implementation.
The videos will be retained for 60 days, after which they will be deleted unless there is an investigation or a legal use.
Council also voted to approve construction of a sidewalk on Queens Road in Montague.
The 550m sidewalk will run along Queens Road from Bailey Drive to Spruce Drive. The cost of construction will be $680,594.24. The contract was awarded to Landmark Construction of Winsloe.
“It’s too bad none of the contractors in our area won the contract, but I guess everyone has the equal chance of getting it,” said Councillor Wayne Spin.
During public presentations resident Janice MacBeth raised concerns about the access to information bylaw.
She said her access to information request bill was $800 including $400 for legal costs.
“That to me folks is a barrier to information in this public forum,” MacBeth said.
She said it would be better if the town repealed the bylaw and let the province handle it because it has a designated department for freedom of information requests.
Jamieson said the high cost stems from the amount of information MacBeth is requesting in her four applications.
“We did our best to estimate the staff time required to respond to these requests and came up with $800 which was very reasonable given the coordination of staff time and multiple timelines,” Jamieson explained.
He said the legal costs stem from the extensive scope of the requests.
“To get guidance on what constituted a record for these requests and to get assurance on the scope of individuals we would need to access records from planning board members, Councillors, staff and other parties. The cost of $400 was a cost recovery for this legal advice,” he said.
Schedule A of the towns fee’s bylaw does have legal cost attached to access to information requests.
“I would assert that we do have a designated Access to Information Officer,” Jamieson said noting they would still be required to have one even if they were under the province. He also added they have professional staff to complete the records search.
Public School Branch trustee Wade Czank presented a school review report indicating all the schools in the Montague family of schools are experiencing growth and many are in need of expansion.
Belfast and Southern Kings Consolidated have extra classrooms that can be used if needed. Cardigan Consolidated uses all classrooms and has one available on a part-time basis but lacks space for students. Georgetown Elementary has no issue with space even if there is a small projected increase in enrollment.
Montague Consolidated, which has a population size of 500, recently had extensive renovations; however, it lacks library space and additional classrooms will need to be addressed in the future. Montague Intermediate population is expected to reach 350 from 300 in the next five years and it might be in need of additional classrooms. Montague High’s school capacity is stated at 600 but the current 464 students use all available classrooms. And Vernon River Consolidated is not in need of extension, even though the 200 students utilize all classrooms.
The Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) is a federally funded program to add coverage in under-covered areas or on under-covered issues. This content is created and submitted by participating publishers and is not edited. Access can also be gained by registering and logging in at: https://lji-ijl.ca
You can support trusted and verified news content like this.
FIPA’s news monitor subscribers, donors and funders help make these available to everyone rather than behind a paywall. We appreciate every contribution because it makes a difference.
If you found this article interesting and useful, please consider contributing here.
