The City of Kamloops Community Services Division is working to set up two satellite offices, saying the new hubs will increase security presence both downtown and on the North Shore.
Tammy Blundell, the city’s community services manager, provided an update on the division’s 2022 plans to the Community Services Committee on Thursday.
Blundell said they are still looking for a North Shore location, but the downtown office will be set up in a currently vacant, city-owned space at 340 Victoria Street.
She said the offices will serve as a home base, providing staff washrooms and a place to warm up or cool down for Community Services Officers, night-time security, outreach workers and police.
“We'll be having our RCMP partners locate here just temporarily, whether we start joint patrols or or bike patrols come spring and summertime,” Blundell said.
“We think it'll overall give that community [on] both sides of the of the river some presence.”
According to a report prepared for the committee, the two office locations are being put in place with the support of the Kamloops Central Business Improvement Association and the North Shore Business Improvement Association.
Byron McCorkell, the city’s community and protective services director, said the NSBIA is helping city staff find an appropriate space for a North Shore office.
“We’re in the process of working with the NSBIA to find a location that would be street-centred, to provide the same sort of service opportunity there,” McCorkell said.
According to Blundell, the division is also planning to put together a rapid response team alongside local outreach service providers, and recruit four new CSO’s — two assigned to the North Shore, and two to the south.
Blundell said in the coming year, the Community Services Division is also planning to set up sea cans as additional short-term storage facilities for people living rough.
“What we're finding is a lot of the medication and stuff is actually being lost when we're dealing with camp cleanups,” Blundell said.
She said the division has been working with partners to ensure that individuals’ ID or medications aren’t thrown out or misplaced.
“We want to ensure that they have the ability to store their stuff so they're not worried about their stuff. So that of course is a temporary solution until we find a permanent solution,” Blundell said.
Blundell said this year, the division will also continue to advocate for a sobering and assessment centre in the city.
Coun. Denis Walsh asked how much these initiatives would cost, and said he thought there should be a cost estimate included in the report.
McCorkell said setting up the Victoria Street satellite office won’t be an added cost, as the city already owns the space, and grant funds could help to cover the lease payment for the North Shore office.
He said once a North Shore location was found, staff will come before council to ask if they can use grant funds for this purpose.
McCorkell said they can hire more CSO’s using funds council has already made available.
“Council's given us direction to provide security services, rather than having a security company do it, we have our CSO's doing it,” McCorkell said.
He said staff plan to bring forward a more fulsome report once more details are in place.
“At this time, all we're doing is saying to the committee these are some things we're working on, because there is some suggestions made that we're not doing anything,” McCorkell said.
“We want to make it clear that there's an awful lot of work going on. And we're trying to address issues in the community as best we can with the tools that we've got.”