The city is setting aside funding that could be used to hire a community outreach worker who would focus on the Orillia Public Library and, possibly, other areas downtown.
Last year, council turned down the library’s request for money to hire security guards to address concerning behaviour at the facility. It suggested a task force be formed to look at alternatives.
A security audit completed in April of this year led to the recommendation of an outreach worker, who could “mitigate problems before they become a crisis,” said library CEO Bessie Sullivan.
With security guards simply kicking people out, she said, “you’re just moving the problem somewhere else.”
An outreach worker could help people on the spot and refer them to other resources in the community.
The library is asking for $72,847 to make that happen, but budget committee didn’t exactly commit to the funding during Wednesday's day-long meeting.
There were questions about whether the outreach worker’s efforts would be directed to the library alone or extend to other parts of the downtown core. Coun. Ted Emond saw it as an investment in the latter.
“Those issues are not issues that are exclusive to the library,” he said.
“I think it’s a burden on the library board to have to consider a solution that needs a broader perspective in the core of our city. It’s affecting the DOMB (Downtown Orillia Management Board), it’s affecting individual merchants, it’s affecting the security of people who are attending," Emond said.
Coun. Tim Lauer agreed.
“I don’t see this as solely a library issue. I think they could be effective in a lot of ways,” he said.
Coun. Pat Hehn, one of council’s representatives on the library board, said it is not the job of library staff to deal with some of the troublesome situations that arise.
Mayor Steve Clarke shared that opinion, adding, “nor is it anybody else’s job, quite frankly, in the core of the city, or a store owner’s job, to deal with these issues.”
He recommended the matter be deferred until January, allowing time for council to receive a report with more information about the proposal, including a job description.
Clarke noted the money could be set aside as a “placeholder.” He suggested drawing the funds from the 2 Hunter Valley reserve. It has a balance of $1 million, but that money will have to be reallocated anyway as the reserve relates to the former Nordia building, which the city no longer owns.
Budget committee voted to take $72,000 from that reserve and wait until a report is received in January that would touch on the job description and comments from related community partners, such as the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit and the DOMB.
The discussion was part of the first of two consecutive days of discussions about the city’s operating budget. The capital budget will be discussed next week. All decisions require ratification at a special council meeting Dec. 6.
