New business, a Vermilion RCMP report, and upcoming public hearings were heard at the Vermilion Town Council meeting on June 19.
Sgt. Jane Boehr gave the Vermilion RCMP report, stating that the detachment had received 522 calls for service from January 1 - June 14. “Of those, 55 charges were laid or recommended including 14 traffic related, four impaired, four drug-related, three domestic, and four assaults or threats. Of the 522 calls, there were 76 tickets, 36 traffic collisions, 11 break and enters, 18 thefts of motor vehicles, 18 spousal abuse, 44 alarms, and eight abandoned vehicles. The Vermilion RCMP will be working with the Eastern Alberta District who has developed a crime reduction system that will address and help to resolve the rural crime. The province’s call back unit will handle after hours over the phone issues. Our support staff members are very important to our role in the community. They have processed 334 criminal record checks and 225 front counter complaints. We are waiting on licensing, but anticipate by fall that Vermilion will have an online Crime Map where the public will be able to see what areas are being hit with crime,” said Boehr. In Economic Development, through the New Commercial Retail Development Incentive Program, Town Council unanimously carried a vote awarding $20,000 to MACK. MACK is a children’s clothing store expected to open in August in the middle portion of the Craig’s Cornerstone building on 50th Avenue in Vermilion. Town Council is planning to host an informal public information session regarding cannabis on July 17, from 4:20 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. The meeting will precede the public hearing at 7 p.m. on July 17, which is scheduled to include land use by-law amendments for lot reclassification, cannabis, and Municipal Government Act regulations.