The Douglas Cardinal Boardroom at St. Albert Place will be getting a second door, but the city has yet to take a look at security across its various facilities.
Earlier this month, council decided to stop holding governance, priorities and finance committee meetings in the boardroom. Security was not the only reason for their decision, but on Monday Coun. Jacquie Hansen emphasized safety as the driving force behind her motion to install a second door there.
“At the end of the day, for me, this really is about safety,” she told her fellow councillors during Monday’s meeting.
“I don’t think we can say what this room is going to be used for, because it can get used for many different scenarios. I think at the end of the day, we just need to know that people can enter and exit safely.”
During the meeting, councillors learned the city has not taken a broader look at security and safety for city facilities. Chief administrative officer Kevin Scoble said if anything is going to be done, it would most likely take place in 2020.
“It’s so broad, you can’t just look at one (facility) in isolation,” he said.
“There’s a risk to just looking at one in the organization without addressing the others. It is much broader – it’s employee safety, public safety, internet security. It’s a very wide and encompassing topic.”
Coun. Sheena Hughes said she was surprised to learn a security audit of city facilities hadn’t been done to date. She supported Hansen’s motion and said she was in favour of an audit as well.
“It needs to start somewhere,” she said.
One of the issues with installing a second door in that boardroom is deciding where it will go. Council’s preferred option is to have an interior second door, but that could mean it would open straight into the confidential records room.
Hansen’s motion passed in a 6-1 vote with Coun. Natalie Joly voting against it.
Joly agreed there is a safety concern with the room, an issue she said has been going on since the election, but she couldn’t support Hansen’s motion.
“What I’ve heard from Mr. Scoble is that there’s a broader need to look at the safety and security (of) administration and of the public in our spaces,” she said, adding she’s concerned with the potential location of the door.
“From my years with Alberta Blue Cross, the thought of confidential records being accessible to anyone (is) concerning as well.”
Coun. Ken MacKay said he was a little frustrated by the discussion of where the door would go, since safety had already been identified as a concern.
“This should have come out of a safety audit prior to us even having to get involved,” he said.
“Saying that, I’m not blaming administration here in relation to identifying that – I’m just saying, it’s just getting frustrating that we have to determine where a door goes in a building that we are (in) sometimes.”
With the preferred option being an interior door, the budget for the project is capped at a maximum of $5,000, which is being covered by the city’s stabilization fund. The exact location of the door will be determined at a later date.
Other options included an exterior door, which would have required a budget of $20,000, and limiting public access to the room.
