Steering Committee Meeting

Minutes – Wednesday, February 9, 2011

      Present:  Ben, Sharon, Cindy, Mike, Bryan, Jayne.

1.   Review and re-vamp of CNCC process in light of Aileen Carroll’s attendance at the last meeting:

Ms. Carroll suggested that a halfway house might be a solution to the problem of releases being dropped off here.  Our stand is that we do not want halfway houses in the downtown core as they would not be palatable or visually acceptable.  They should be placed out of the downtown area.  De-centralization of the bus terminal drop off, out of the downtown area, to the suggested site of the former Barrie Racetrack, would help this situation.  It would be preferred to decentralize the downtown social services to other areas of the City to effect less congestion.

Discussions were had as to what recommendations to include or not to include in the report on the Released Offender Transfer process.

Point # 1:

 If the downtown bus terminal were to be moved, there would be less of a problem and downtown drop offs would not exist. Correctional buses would have to move their drop off point. Ontario buses would depart from the racetrack. A letter to the City Council should address our concerns. A presentation at a Council meeting is also being discussed.

Point # 2:

 Encourage but not really influence The John Howard Society.  We support what they do, but we cannot be active contributors.  We recognize the good work they do and would write a letter of support.  Guidelines and municipal by laws should be in place that control the formation of the halfway house, and one of them should be to include putting a vocational educational site nearby.

 Point # 3:

Incorporated in # 1, would be part of the same letter.

Point # 4:

 Part of the initial letter, Point 5 is related to point 4.The John Howard Society is being encouraged to help alleviate the problems downtown.

Point # 7:

 The question we ask here is why parole is not transferable to Barrie.  Aileen Carroll is addressing the court house with this problem. This issue remains unresolved.

 Excerpts of “The Report on The Released Offender Transfer Process” will be posted on the website, with a disclaimer.

Update on the Arc process:

At the Arc meeting held on January 25^th, 2011, our Mayor made it clear to the committee that closing Barrie Central Collegiate was not supported by the City of Barrie, and he demonstrated that alternatives in the form of partnership were available.

BDNA Survey:

A BDNA Survey was presented to the committee for their input & several questions were revised.  Ben indicated that he would try to get this out to our members.  It was also suggested that this go out to the entire city population in various forms of mailings.

Other:

It was discussed that the BDNA should prioritize their efforts in issues that we are involved with, & we should concentrate on those issues that we have the most influence & effect on.