ATHABASCA - The Town of Athabasca has opted to keep a Community Peace Officer (CPO) on staff instead of accepting an offer from Athabasca County to contract out the services, similar to what the Village of Boyle does.
Following the closed session part of the June 20 council meeting, councillors voted 5-2 to reject the proposal. The vote, which was recorded following a request from mayor Rob Balay, saw councillors Sara Graling, Jonathan LeMessurier, Ida Edwards, Darlene Reimer, and Edie Yuill vote in favour, with Balay and Coun. David Pacholok voting against the motion.
Balay, who wasn’t able to go into too much detail about their discussion due to the regulations surrounding closed sessions, said, “We felt that we weren’t ready to proceed with the regional initiative, but we are open to looking at it again down the road.”
The town is currently hiring a new CPO, with a June 26 job posting laying out the requirements and salary — the town will be paying the officer between $77,175 and $88,079 a year.
Brian Bandura, who was working in the position before, left in early May according to town CAO Rachel Ramey, and the town has been without a CPO since. In the meantime, the town has been relying on a prior agreement with Athabasca County to help out as needed.
