TIMMINS - When a legal review of the city's encampment policies is made public, Timmins councillors are clear on what they want it to include.
At next week's council meeting, a legal review of the city encampment policies is expected to be up for discussion.
Encampments have been a recurring topic at the council table.
Last week, a resolution calling for a detailed report on the situation was approved.
Put on the agenda by Ward 3 Coun. Bill Gvozdanovic, it asks for information on the current plan and if any changes are needed for 2025. It also asks for details on encampments that have been removed, whether a one-site approach on the outer edges of the city has been considered, if the city is receiving cash for future encampments, and what the city spent in 2024 for dealing with encampments.
Gvozdanovic said encampments are a "seasonal thing".
While he says he's not in favour of "dragging tents down", when spring comes he wants the city to be prepared.
"I think we got to take control here, and I think we're getting pushed around a little bit, especially because of the fact that it's seasonal," he said.
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The encampment resolution calls for a report within 30 days, but some of the questions could be covered in the upcoming legal review.
“I'm hoping that what comes to council is a little more than an opinion of you can't do this, you can't do this and it kind of maps out what we can do and how we can address this issue and what our options are to move forward,” said Coun. Steve Black about the review at the Sept. 3 meeting.
Over the summer, Timmins CAO Dave Landers and clerk Steph Palmateer talked to a lawyer about the local situation. The city provided information about services, bylaws and enforcement activities, among other items.
Over the summer, there have been tents in Hollinger Park.
Black's message has been steadfast: it's not the right location.
“And it's not that the people there are causing issues or are interfering with events," he said.
At the Labour Day event he attended in Hollinger Park, he said nothing happened and it was barely noticeable that tents were there.
"But we shouldn't use the fact that there hasn't been an issue to allow it to happen in what is our main park for our community, where most of our children congregate to play in the summer,” he said.
The goalposts on the situation keep moving, said Landers.
“What we're trying to do is to say, here's the set of activities that we're trying to put in front of us in order to deal with this situation. Will they withstand judicial review? So if we get challenged and taken into court … do we have a leg to stand on and so how do we tighten up what it is that we want to do so that we can have some effect in addressing this issue,” he said.
The legal review, he said, will offer guidance on how to address issues councillors have talked about.
Mayor Michelle Boileau also expects there will be revisions to the city's encampment response protocol in the review.
At the Sept. 3 meeting, council also passed a resolution on the homelessness crisis.
It calls for federal and provincial governments to work together and with municipalities to address the complex issues needing responses from all levels of government.
