ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER/INFORMATION
If you are interested in receiving any information regarding the Oromocto West Neighbourhood Watch via email, please contact Committee Chair, Mel Vance, at oamba@rogers.com.
MINUTES OF 4 DECEMBER 2007 MEETING:
1. Chair Vance called meeting to order and made reference to a number of people who attended the meeting including: Mayor Tidd/ Councillor Buchanan/ Inspector O’Malley/ Constables Dumont and Lemieux.
2. The meeting started with the Chair Mel Vance making reference to a number of issues;
a. It was brought up about the number of property thefts, damage to personnel property, damage to park property and teens in the anniversary park area who have been drinking and smoking drugs and at times with younger children observing;
b. Talked briefly on how successful the Lincoln and Hanwell Neighbourhood Watch are going and the one thing that has made both successful is it has become a true community project. We have to try to get everyone involved within Oromocto West;
c. Maps of Oromocto were handed out. It was put to all that attended to take a map home and come up with some ideas on how we want to break our Ward up regarding responsibilities. A couple of ideas would be to break the Ward up into 4-6 blocks, we would have a captain and an assistant for each block. Each captain and assistant would be responsible to communicate to all the residents within their block. Each weekend three families from each zone would be responsible to walk in their block on Thurs /Fri/Sat nights from approx 9pm- 1am (1 family would do Thurs, 1 Fri and 1 Sat). The goal would be to have enough people involved so that a family would only have to do this one night per summer from Apr- Sept. Another idea would be to have street captains who would communicate with everyone on their street. Whatever is decided it was pointed out that not everyone would be comfortable with walking around during the evening which is fine. Everyone as a minimum would be ask to know their neighbours, and be aware what is going on in their “block” and be vigilant in reporting any issues to the police;
d. People were asking to approach insurance companies to get funding for signs, posts and stickers. This would give our ward the visibility regarding Neighbourhood Watch. ** We may have a sponsor for this. MTF in our next meeting;
e. We are hoping that a flyer can be made to hand out to all residents who move into the area. It would explain how to decrease the chances of your property being vandalized and how to get involved with the neighbourhood watch;
f. The target date to start the neighbourhood watch would be Apr 07. The organized evening walks would only be from Apr- Sept. Steering Committee meetings would take place no more than 4 times a year. If we have open communication between the residents and the captains, captains and the chairman then we should not need a lot of meetings;
g. Future meetings should include professional locksmiths and alarm companies. This would mainly be for education and if residents decide to use these companies they would do so at their own expense;
h. It was explained in detail on what the responsibilities would be of a neighbourhood watch resident who witnesses a crime. This will be explained in more detail once we get closer to the Apr timeframe. Basically the person witnessing a crime would make direct contact with the RCMP, they would also contact their Block Captain to inform them of the details (what, when, where, action taken). The RCMP rep Cst Lemieux would then pass on the same details to the Chairman so that a log can be maintained; and
i. It was discussed that a new park curfew by-law was in the process of being made with input from the RCMP, Town and the Leisure Services Committee. This new by-law would greatly assist the committee.
3. Cst Marie Dumont then spoke about the Neighbourhood Watch program in other areas (Hanwell/Lincoln). She reinforced the fact that to be successful that it would have to be a group neighbourhood effort and it would be everyone’s responsibility to know their neighbour. This would greatly assist in the communication effort and give a greater chance in succeeding with our efforts. Cst Lemieux was also introduced at this time as our RCMP rep.
4. Question Period followed. I will only write a couple of things that were mentioned (all info will be included on future minutes)
- It was asked how will we be able to maintain communication with everyone since we have such a high % of residents moving in Oromocto West. This was discussed and some ideas were presented. More discussion to follow and I ask you all to put some thought into this for the next mtg.
- It was suggested that some people may not want to come forward for fear of their property getting damaged later on.
5. We had some members volunteer for certain positions on the committee;
a. Block Captains
- Kelly/Jeff Murdock
- Joe Jarvis
- Larry Arnold (was not at mtg but informed me he is interested)
b. Secretary – Chris Rinehart
6. Adjournment. Next meeting 5 Feb 7pm @ Town Hall.