Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum has named four councillors, from his own party, to a new committee dedicated to the Surrey police force.
Allison Patton, Mandeep Nagra, Laurie Guerra, Doug Elford will all sit on the Interim Police Transition Advisory Committee, with McCallum presiding as chair. All five members are a part of the Mayor's Safe Surrey Coalition.
The mayor says IPTAC will be in place for three to six months.
"The mandate of this standing committee will be to support the policing transition process leading up to the establishment of the police board," said McCallum.
The announcement comes a week after the mayor dissolved the City’s Public Safety Committee. That group was comprised of all city councillors, the fire chief, bylaw and RCMP’s officer in charge.
"All items of business that fall outside of the new Interim Police Transition Advisory Committee that would otherwise be presented at the public Safety Committee will be provided to council through other avenues," explained McCallum.
McCallum axed the Public Safety Committee unilaterally last week, prompting former Mountie Jack Hundial to resign from the mayor’s sprty. Hundial was the third councillor to leave the Safe Surrey Coalition in as many months. Steven Pettigrew resigned in May followed by Brenda Locke in June. All three now sit as independents. The trio along with Surrey First Coun. Linda Annis were noticeably absent from the list of new appointees.
The future of the Surrey police force is currently in the province’s hands. The city sent its plans for the transition to Victoria back in May. It’s now being reviewed by Solicitor General Mike Farnworth, but there is no timeline on when it could be approved.
McCallum said he hopes to have Surrey police operational by April 2021.
