Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 5, 1979, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free december 3 j frustration hurts police s Al by Tom Goldstein administrative problems if the Nipes police department appear to have Hurt morale among the Accord ing to a report discussed yesterday at a close door session of civic finance the by City auditor fid recommends hiring of an Independent consultant to improve department Effi the free press has although the men and women Are they appear to feel frustrated by systems and operating proce dures which May not be the report improvement in efficiency will improve morale in the police Wayne press the Caffie if response to requests by various police officers to improve departmental Effi Marks the which was discussed privately for hours yesterday by coun administrators and police offi also says deteriorating police response times Are unlikely to improve significantly once the overdue com Pute raided dispatch system becomes fully that Asser Tion has been confirmed by a responsible official associated with the the cad which became Par till operational june was to be completely working by june then id and is now expected to be ready in the old manual system is being used to take up the Slack until technical problems Are Marks recommends the immediate creation of a committee to determine if response will indeed improve under the integrated system which also handles fire department and ambulance service me also says the freeze on police hiring be continued until the review is if the times Are significantly improved then serious consideration should be Given to ending police Dis Patching from District but if response times do not improve the report plans should be made for such As a return to a decentralized dispatching the report also recommends a feasibility study be done on implementing Only the fire department and ambulance service components of those services have not deteriorated under the centralized it Marks urged that an audit currently undertaken into the contract be extended to determine if the City actually received what it paid according to police chief Norm response times have More than doubled in the last year and he blames the dispatch Winnipeg gifts to the world As Christmas the flow of packages out of the City Busy postal workers sort hundreds of parcels in an is becoming heavier at the Post office on Graham variety of sizes according to Swift workers find jobs scarce Layoff of employees begins monday at Boniface packing Plant by Glen Mackenzie layoffs at the Swift Canadian Plant in Boniface Start monday but few of the 600 or so workers affected have found other of five employees interviewed yes Only one said he had a line on another Job and he want sure if it would pan John chairman of a commit tee established to help workers find other work in the Wake of the plants announced said yesterday about 75 employers have expressed interest in hiring some of the Mike who has worked for Swift for three said yesterday Many of the Job offers posted on company bulletin boards by the committee were of Little positions posted included some that had been filled Long others that require a person to virtually be an Engineer while still others Are for such Low paid positions As assistant he most production workers at Swift now make about per Condra said 25 to 30 workers have already left and presumably found other about 60 More will heed a United food and Commer Cial workers spokesman at the said recently workers have to stay on until the Plant closes or lose their Severance the collective agree ment Calls for tvs weeks pay for those with at least 10 years of service plus an extra weeks pay after a 20year Veteran would thus receive weeks about Condra said Job counselling sessions designed to determine what alternate skills workers possess will Start Fri ads for employers As advertisements have been taken in newspapers to inform employ ers the workers Are Peter a seven year Plant was the Only employee interviewed yesterday who said he had a Job possibility but even he want sure it would pan Paul 53 and a said yesterday he expects to have trouble finding another Job be cause Hes been doing Light duties since suffering a Back injury at work a year future Uncertain the future of the Plant is Uncertain As Dick Industrial real estate manager for Aronovitch and Leip sic which is handling the said the 22acre site will be advertised shortly at million and million for the land and build Ings excluding about half a dozen firms have expressed interest in the including a couple of land developers and a couple of packing houses interested in running part of their operation he Bruno staff representative for the 450 or so a few workers and a former Swift said yesterday about 50 workers will be Laid off monday when the last animals Are slaughtered and an average of 50 a Day will be Laid off until representatives of the Union and management met with Premier Ster Ling Lyon and other provincial Cabinet members Zimmer said yester Day that while company officials told him the Plant lost million the past five years they didst think there was any Point showing us the books to prove Zimmer also said the provincial government should have taken some action to try and prevent the theres nothing we can do about the decisions of a multinational corporation but a government he at the 9 meeting Lyon simply said the Bell has rung for he no precedent but Zimmer added he knew no Prece Dent where a government had prevented such a company officials yesterday refused comment on the a Plant superintendent who refused to give his name confirmed the Layoff schedule but refused to answer any More questions because it would be a waste of my but Marks said a number of factors have contributed to the slower response including inexperienced opera tors about half Are the practice of not dispatching ears 30to45 minutes prior to a shift the Large number of constables on vacation during the Suffi fief months when ser vice Calls the tack of Avail Able cruisers due to a Lack of staff and constant radio chatter among officers which causes dispatching the new communications Centre in the Public safety building has also caused Marks the 911 emergency operators have poor says morale because they ate the paid employs and and lighting problems have upswing Ift sick Leavey among the other in the 33page report Are a return to Oneman patrol cars during daytime hours to increase the number of vehicles on a charge to businesses and institutions for having police respond to false burglar alarms and the feasibility of having the health department serve its venereal disease the report is expected to be Public tomorrow by civic executive policy by election victories give ice majority by Ron Campbell and Tom Goldstein the Independent citizens election committee has strengthened its grip on City achieving a Clear majority with by election victories last night in Corydon and Tuxedo the wins by Harold Macdonald in Corydon and Bill Neville in Tuxedo Heights gave the ice a sweep of the three Council seats which have been vacant since Larry Fleisher won Crescent Heights by acclamation and was sworn into office Macdonald and Neville Are to take their official oaths in time for tonight Council the latest victories give the ice 16 of councils 29 the nip holds four the labor election commit tee one and independents Neville won gaining More than four times As Many votes As his two Independent opponents he received votes compared with 379 for Peter Martin and 128 for Tony the turnout represented about 21 per cent of the eligible Nevilles tally included the Only vote cast in one poll and the Only two cast in replaces Norrie he replaces Bill Norrie who resigned 31 to devote himself solely to the mayors office which he won in a june 20 now an ind Epen represented the Ward As a Mem Ber of the in where about per cent of the electorate cast Macdonald had a tougher polling 320 More votes than runner up Gari Whelon of the Macdonald received votes to a herons while William Hawryluk of the Western democracy running in his third Campaign this gained Macdonald succeeds june an Independent on who was elected 16 to the Manitoba Legisla Whelon attributed his loss to West Burys support for what killed me was her support in the High he the vote in those polls was very on sided for Whelon Neville spent on his while Macdonald spent about change in stereotype along with Macdonald and Neville said he represents a change in the ice i dont think any political party has a particular monopoly on Reform or the belief that certain kinds of changes Are possible or he he added his first priority was to have some Impact on caucus both men support greater Public a Cess to City information and Neville promised to push for Freedom Winfor mation and conflict interest Legisla although he does not expect change to occur the Tuxedo Heights councillor also said he would urge that consideration be Given to the appointment of a civic Macdonald that Access should not be completely open because confidentiality is needed in some the two newest councillors will face their first major Issue tonight when Council debates whether the Node Munct civic nonprofit housing Corpora Tion should be unlike the Veteran both Are Uncertain if they will Buck the caucus and support resurrecting the both said they needed More information on the i guess id on the first major to do the right thing and be Able to defend that it is consistent with later Neville adding he is inclined to support the project although he has some not Good enough answer Macdonald said his impression is that its not a Good enough answer to the need for Low income housing in the it is becoming Clear that that partic ular Agency has become a Symbol to he added he is committed to an effective Way to provide housing to Low income City refuses to foot Legal Bill for citizen group civic finance committee rejected yesterday a request to help defray costs a citizens group incurred while trying to have a Windsor Park Asphalt mixing Plant shut Down because of alleged according to the City there is no Legal or moral obligation for the City to make a Grant so to said committee chairman Abe Yan last a group of Windsor Park residents calling itself the concerned citizens of Winnipeg presented the committee with a Bill for to cover Legal regardless of which party wins the court the Case is currently under the group won a provincial court decision one month earlier which found Borger industries and lad co in violation of a City the companies were each fined and ordered to remove Borgers Asphalt mixing located across from a residential area on Lagimodiere Boule the Plant continued to operate during City Hall notebook the summer and fall pending the a but is now closed for the Yanofsky a prac Tising said the group May still be Able to recover its costs if the original verdict is upheld and the court of appeals orders the Money Reim the City can expect to gain a year if a proposed lax increase on electricity in certain apartment blocks is finance commissioner Roy Evans said the proposal would increase the rate to five per cent hike and would require the province to Amend the City of Winnipeg it would standardize taxes for All apartment blocks with More than four at the City tax is applied at the Domestic rate of per cent on Winnipeg Hydro and Manitoba Hydro Bills for buildings which do not have individual meters for each the is applied at the no Domestic rate of five per cent on greater Winnipeg Gas the City will receive about Mil lion this year from Gas and electricity taxes without the proposed Evans the proposed change would Cost landlords about a year for each Evans doubted the increase by itself would cause rents to Rise in the build Ings the proposal now goes to r h the City should spend devel Oping a Section of red Bank in conjunction with Boniface civic recreation and social services committee recommended yes the which owns the has agreed to spend landscaping some of it and demolishing and removing certain buildings and it would Cost the City about at current Market value to buy the the portion of Riverbank prop the City wants it As part of a four mile Public Riverbank Walkway and cycling system City planners envision from Lyndale drive to the Confluence of the red and Seine in addition to the development the City would share of the Esti mated annual maintenance 6 an agreement under which the City would contribute up to annually for three years for the support of Mossbrook House youth drop in Centre at 658 Ross Avenue was approved in principle yesterday by civic recreation and social services the agreement provides that the City contribute 25 per cent of the drop in centres yearly operating up to a Mossbrook must provide a strict accounting of its expenditures and activities to the under the the drop in must expand its operation to a year 24hour and set up a system for Case consultations and referrals with the Winnipeg childrens Aid in r a proposal to spend creating a youth drop in Centre in two inner City communities was referred to the civic administration by recreation and social services committee the committee asked for a report on agencies operating similar the administration recommended to the committee that one drop in Centre be established in the City Centre fort Rouge Community and another in lord Selkirk West Kildonan this was in response to last Mays report of councils joint and hoc commit tee on youth which recommended such centres be established in the Core area for pc to civic recreation and social services committee yesterday agreed with an administration recommendation that youth groups be established in the cites 86 Community the administration also said the Parks and recreation Branch in each District should establish a District wide youth Council or advisory to include a representative from each youth group in the District As Well As representatives of various civic bodies and the local Community Centre Asso at each Community a youth advisory committee would plan activities in conjunction with an adult and a Cit developed family life Educa Tion program for adolescents was approved in principle yesterday by civic recreation and social services commit an administration proposal in response to a recommendation by the and hoc joint committee on youth said City departments support the Continua Tion of family life education programs now being most family life education services in Winnipeg Are operations mainly using volunteers to conduct the report these programs Are directed mainly at Young senior citizens and Small children with virtually no family life programs for ;