The Mountain View County (MVC) policies and priorities committee has reviewed a proposal to create a new crime prevention initiative grant policy.
The move came during the committee’s recent regularly scheduled meeting in council chambers.
A proposed policy and accompanying procedure was presented to the committee for its consideration on May 2.
The proposed budget for the grant would be $25,000.
“Due to the significant increase in rural crime throughout Alberta, Mountain View County council is evaluating options to improve community safety,” administration said in a briefing note to the committee.
“With rural crime watch’s memorandum of understanding with the RCMP there may be a need for additional administrative support or mobile app development.
“As well, citizen on patrol groups have formed in Olds and Sundre and may patrol areas within the county. Funding could be directed towards these organizations to support their activities through a grant program.”
The proposed policy statement reads: “Mountain View County is committed to maintaining safe communities and is desirous of partnering with local groups and organizations on initiatives that will increase the safety of, or reduce the impact of criminal activity on, residents and/or businesses in the county.”
There are three principles outlined in the proposed policy:
- Mountain View County supports building awareness and education in collaboration with similar community groups or law enforcement organizations.
- The intent of the grant is to assist with funding education, events or activities related to directly reducing the impact of crime within the community.
- Council will review all applications and allocate funding within the approved budget.
Under the proposed procedure, council would establish a budget amount to be distributed under the policy within a fiscal year, and all funding applications would be forwarded to the policies and priorities committee for review and a recommendation would be made to council for funding allocation within the approved budget.
“Successful applications will receive 75 per cent of the funding upon approval. The remaining 25 per cent will be provided upon the conclusion of the projects, once Mountain View County has received written confirmation of completion. Amounts less than $2,000 may be paid in full.”
The committee passed a motion instructing administration to bring the proposed policy before council for consideration.
