Conference travel boosts police board budget

As the City of Brandon faced a financial crunch and announced it would have to boost taxes, the city’s police board asked council to almost double its budget and pointed to travel costs as a reason for the request.

When questioned by Coun. Glen Parker (Ward 9) about the Brandon Police Board’s ask for more money earlier this month during budget deliberations, board member Coun. Shawn Berry (Ward 7) replied that this year’s budget was informed by last year’s conference travel expenses that included a trip to Newfoundland.

“The budget line for the police board expenses is a reflection of last year because of the conference being held in St. John’s, Newfoundland — it was actually a lot more expensive for travel costs than what was anticipated,” Berry said at a Feb. 2 budget meeting.

According to documents obtained by the Sun, with honorariums, meals, travel costs and conference fees, the board’s spending in 2023 came to $24,657.19 — well over last year’s budget of $11,680 and more than this year’s projected budget of $20,525.

Brandon University sociology professor Christopher Schneider, who has written extensively about policing, said those numbers don’t seem to reflect well on the police board.

“It doesn’t bode well for our confidence in the police board for overseeing the police budget if they’re going over their own budget,” he said.

Given the city’s overall financial picture and the police board’s request for a large increase to its budget, the Sun filed a freedom of information request asking city administration to provide documents showing the police board’s expenses and remunerations. It also asked police board chair Deb Arpin about any cost-saving steps the board may have taken.

Travel

Last year, Arpin and Berry attended the Canadian Association of Police Governance conference in St. John’s. According to financial documents provided by the city, the board spent about $6,700 on travel expenses for both Berry and Arpin, plus $3,500 in conference registrations for both of them and BPS acting chief Randy Lewis and acting deputy chief Greg Hebert.

BPS confirmed that Lewis and Hebert attended the conference last year, but their travel expenses were expensed to the police force’s personal development line, not the police board’s.

The board also spent $1,560 on CAPG memberships for Berry, Arpin, Lewis and Hebert.

According to its website, the conference provides workshops and panel discussions for civilian governors of policing, members of police services and members of government that are concerned with overseeing policing policy.

CAPG executive director Stephen Reid told the Sun in an email that the conference has a “virtual option” as they recognize it can be expensive for some members to travel. The CAPG website lists the package of three days of conference recordings at $150 for members and $300 for non-members.

Schneider said if the board determines attending the conference is necessary, even as its costs and city taxes are increasing, one solution could be to only send one board member.

“An easy cut would be sending one person — that’s something that I think is totally reasonable,” he said. “You’re not preventing them from going at all, and that one person then could present the findings back to the group … That would actually reduce the money.”

While Berry told city council during budget deliberations that the board always sends two members to the conference, he said travel cost should be less this year because the conference is being held in Halifax.

“So, travel expenses will still be significant, I’m guessing will probably be about 60 per cent of what that budget line is,” he told council. “I don’t anticipate that it will be $20,000 because air travel costs, etc., aren’t going to be quite as expensive in Halifax as it is in St. John’s, and we always send two members of the board.”

Meals and honorariums

The spending that made up the remainder of the police board expenses were honorariums and catered lunches from Komfort Kitchen and Sabor Latino for board meetings.

The board spent a total of $2,061.76 on meals, with the highest meal tab ($425.60) at the June 9 meeting.

Board members get paid $75 for half-day meetings and $150 for full-day meetings. The board members who attended the conference were paid for the multi-day event, spending a total of $1,938.14 in honorariums.

When asked about what cost saving measures the police board had taken in preparing the police board budget line in the 2024 police budget, Arpin said they had considered measures, but did not give specifics.

“We look at all types of cost-cutting measures every day on every line,” Arpin told the Sun.

The police board budget over the past five years has been about $11,000 to $12,000 and the board has usually been under or close to budget.

Arpin said meetings with council and food that accompanies those meetings add to the board’s expenses. She also said the board will be meeting six times this year instead of its usual four.

Role of the police board

The Brandon Police Board is comprised of 10 members. Mayor Jeff Fawcett, city manager Ron Bowles and councillors Shawn Berry and Barry Cullen (Ward 3) also sit on the board.

The Police Services Act of Manitoba requires that every municipality that operates a police service must have a police board. The requirement was mandated by the government to improve “accountability and transparency within police services across Manitoba.”

The act lists the specific duties of the board, including acting as a liaison between the community and the police service, and ensuring that police services and policing priorities are reflective and delivered in ways consistent with community needs and values.

The legislation also specifies that the police board is responsible for allocating the funds that are provided to the police under the municipal budget.

Reid said that while many police boards and commissions across Canada are similar, they’re not all the same because policing is a provincial responsibility. He described the role of the police board members as similar to a board of directors of a for-profit or not-for-profit organization.

“Police service board/commissions, directors are appointed by provincial and municipal governments to take on a fiduciary role overseeing the role of the Chief/Commissioner (similar to a CEO) as they manage building public trust and ensuring adequate and effective policing including budgets,” he said.

Meanwhile, Arpin emphasized the importance of the conference and echoed Berry on the possibility that the board won’t spend the $20,000 in funds this year.

“We’re just saying the money is there — it may be spent, it may not be spent,” she said, adding that conferences are “very important to the police board to keep up on today’s policing.”

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