BY KIRK STARRATT

kstarratt@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

Some councillors believe youth can bring unique perspectives to the table if included as citizen appointees to boards such as the Police Services Advisory Committee. But other councillors believe such appointees should be at least old enough to vote.

Several recommendations from the County of Kings policy review committee were before the committee of the whole (COTW) for discussion at the February session. Municipal Clerk Ann Longley, who presented a report from the policy review committee, said they conducted a review of the current Police Services Advisory Committee Bylaw and the recommendation is it be rescinded and that first reading be given to a new Police Advisory Board Bylaw.

Longley said changes were required to bring the bylaw into accordance with the Nova Scotia Police Act. She said the advisory board is considered a RCMP police advisory board. The board shall advise council on all policing matters affecting the municipality.

The proposed bylaw states that the board would be made up of seven individuals: three councillors, representing the eastern, central and western portions of the county; three citizen appointees, representing the eastern, central and western portions of the county; and one provincial representative appointed by the Minister of Justice.

Longley said councillors would serve one-year terms and citizens would serve two-year terms, commencing in December 2008.

Citizen appointees should be voting age: Newton

Recent appointments made to the advisory committee would remain in place. However, councillor Janet Newton said she’s not happy with the way the eastern end of the county is underrepresented on the committee in the sense that there is more population in the east and a greater number of municipal electoral districts.

Newton said there is an underage person serving on the police advisory committee. Western citizen appointee Emma Johnson turned 16 years old recently. She said in a recent interview that she applied for the position this past fall after councillor Wayne Atwater told her it was available.

Newton said she has a problem with a youth serving on the committee, but other councillors don’t. “Citizen appointees should be of voting age,” she said.

Atwater said he pushed for youth involvement and he doesn’t see anything wrong with a youth serving on the advisory board. He said you don’t have to have grey hair or be a brain surgeon to be involved.

“We should be proud we brought youth in,” he said. “Other municipalities should be doing the same.”

Councillor Eric Smith said he agrees with Newton that citizen appointees should be of voting age because youth appointees probably wouldn’t understand a lot of what’s happening. He said he thinks citizen appointees should be at least 19.

Councillor Jim Taylor said he believes it’s a good idea to include youth. Such representatives could probably bring a lot of information to the table from peer groups that you wouldn’t get with older appointees, and youth represent a large portion of the population.

Councillor Madonna Spinazola said she’s in favour of including youth and suggested checking with other police advisory boards in the province to see if there are any other young people involved.

Warden Fred Whalen pointed out that the 16-year-old western citizen appointee has the approval of the provincial Department of Justice. Chief Administrative Officer Brian Smith said there is no basis in law to exclude people from such positions based on age.

“We didn’t see any exclusion in the Justice Act,” he said.

However, when asked about it later, Johnson said she is fully aware that some members of council don’t agree with someone as young as her serving as a citizen appointee on the police advisory committee. She said she thinks it’s understandable that elected officials would have that concern and sometimes, in general, adults question the abilities of youths when it comes to allocating responsibilities.

“I was aware,” she said. When asked if this would change anything about the way she approaches her responsibilities as a committee member, Johnson said, “It’s not going to change anything.”

Spinazola said it should be stipulated in the bylaw that the police advisory committee has to make an annual budget presentation to council. This was handled through a friendly amendment, since the new bylaw has yet to receive first reading at council.

The COTW will recommend to council that the old Police Services Advisory Committee Bylaw be rescinded and that first reading be given to the new one.