Two Surrey councillors are asking their colleagues to reinstate a committee for public safety in this city.
Couns. Jack Hundial and Linda Annis want the return of the Public Safety Committee in Surrey.
Last July, Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum disbanded the Public Safety Committee in favour of an Interim Police Transition Committee. The move was part of the city’s plan to switch from the Surrey RCMP to a municipal force.
Several elected officials were extremely critical of the move, saying it cut them out of ongoing public safety decisions, including those related to fire and bylaws.
On Monday night, Surrey Connect Coun. Jack Hundial said he will be asking council abandon the interim committee, and Coun. Linda Annis will be requesting the return of the public safety committee.
Pulse FM requests for comment from Mayor Doug McCallum were not immediately returned.
Hundial told his colleagues on Monday IPTAC was only to be in place for six months, and noted the committee hasn’t met since its inception in July, “and therefore, has been completely redundant.”
He will ask that the committee be dissolved effective the next meeting of council.
Surrey First Coun. Linda Annis further asked that the former Public Safety Committee be reinstated.
“Other cities in Canada have committees that address public safety and public well-being,” Annis told her colleagues. She added that the Public Safety Committee was crucial in bringing council attention to “ossues such as addictions, poverty, homelessness and the opiate crisis.”
Both motions will be voted upon by council in two weeks.