New Westminster city council wants to open up the conversation channels with the New Westminster police board about the city’s policing budget – but not everyone is on board with the plan.
In a 5-2 vote on Monday night, council approved a motion from Coun. Nadine Nakagawa to have council write to the police board requesting to engage in collaborative dialogue about the 2024 police budget on an ongoing basis beginning in spring 2023.
“We know that the police budget comprises the largest portion of our municipal budget, yet we as elected representatives, as the decision makers on our municipal budget, don’t have any say in that,” Nakagawa said. “But we’re simply given the number that we have to pass. This is an accountability problem at its heart.”
Nakagawa, who has raised concerns about the police budget process for several years, said her concerns aren’t directed at the police board or the police chief.
“It is a problem of process,” she said. “Our community deserves … for their elected representatives to be in conversation on the largest part of the municipal budget.”
The motion passed in a 5-2 vote, with New West Progressive councillors Daniel Fontaine and Paul Minhas voting in opposition.
Fontaine said civic politicians shouldn’t’ be “interfering” in the police budget, other than discussions that take place when the police board submits the NWPD’s budget to the city.
He expressed concern that the motion was short on details, such as who would be setting the agendas for the meetings, what would be discussed and whether senior staff or council would be attending the meeting with the police board.
“My goodness, the chair is the mayor of the City of New Westminster. So we couldn’t get any more linked to the Police Board that we have today,” he said. “I think this motion is … opaque. It’s vague. It’s a lacking detail. I don’t understand where it’s all going to go with it, and I’m not going to support it.”
Mayor Patrick Johnstone, who also serves as chair the police board, supported Nakagawa’s motion, as did fellow Community First New West councillors Ruby Campbell, Tasha Henderson and Jaimie McEvoy.
Johnstone said the language of the motion is “crystal clear” that the meeting would be between city council and the police board.
“I will try to avoid speaking on behalf of the police board, except to say that I think this will be a well-received invitation for dialogue,” he said Monday night. “But I think it will be received with some caution by the police board. I think they will want to be sure that their authority is understood and respected by council.”
Johnstone said the request is consistent with discussions the police board has been having about opening up its processes to the public. He said the motion is “a request to collaborate” and council will have to see how the police board responds to that request.
“I think that it’s important that we understand as much from them what their priorities and their pressures are in the budget before we as a council approve it,” he said, “and I think that they also need to know and understand from the political side, what our pressures are.”
McEvoy said the police board has the authority to “draw a line” and say what topics are open for discussion. He said discussions already occur between the police board and city council about the budget and he welcomes a more in-depth discussion earlier in the process.
“It’s just an odd process, and it has that very last-minute feeling to it,” he said of the current process. It doesn’t feel like there is a dialogue before we approve the budget. We ask questions. We provide feedback, but it’s always late. It’s always like near the end of the budget process.”
The New Westminster police board is statutorily required (by the Police Act) to approve a provisional budget by Nov. 30, which is generally some time before city council approves the City of New Westminster’s overall budget.
