Chatham-Kent will be taking additional steps to ensure the safety of councillors and staff members during public meetings.
CK Council passed two motions during a meeting Monday night that will see added security employed at the Civic Centre and a reconfiguration of council chambers.
The issue was brought forward after recently reported incidents where physical altercations took place and verbal threats were made toward council members and staff. A report to council added that these types of occurrences are not isolated to CK and cited several incidents faced by other municipal councils across Canada.
“There were a lot of councillors feeling uneasy about being in the room at times,” said Mayor Darrin Canniff.
Security guards will now be posted at the entrances of the Civic Centre beginning at 5:30 p.m. and will be present during council meetings. Visitor badges will also need to be worn and shown to security while in the building.
Council chambers will also be reconfigured to create a physical barrier between members of the public and council/staff. The layout changes will ensure increased safety and will increase the number of public spaces from 63 to 69.
“It’s mainly changing the layout of the seating so that people aren’t sitting behind other people, just to give a little space. Some of the seats are [currently] within reaching distance of some of councillors and staff,” said Canniff.
Canniff added that the changes to council changes will be made over the next two months.
The cost for the reconfiguration is estimated to be around $29,615.
