Last week, the Manitoba government announced funding for public safety in 6 Manitoba cities, including the City of Dauphin, set to receive $200,000.
The province's news release says the funding will go towards improving safety and upgrades to municipal buildings, including security cameras, alarm systems, and measure to address vanadlism and graffiti.
Lisa Gaudet, Dauphin's Deputy City Manager, said the City can't say anything official just yet, because they haven't received any paperwork from the province yet.
"At this stage we have not received the formal contribution agreement from the province, and the agreement will outline the eligible uses for the funding. So right now we want to be careful not to get ahead of that or to speculate on specific projects. We do have some ideas we're exploring internally, but until we see the final agreement and confirm eligibility for the use of the funding, it would be premature to speak to any one initiative," said Gaudet.
Gaudet said she can assure the funding will be used thoughtfully, and in meaningful ways in the community.
"We do know that the intent of the funding is to enhance safety through prevention-focused measures, so that would include things like supporting community partnerships, improving security infrastructure, investing in initiatives that focus on de-escalation and well being, but at this stage we really need to wait until we have that formal contribution agreement before we can make a public statement about what the funds will be used for," said Gaudet.
Gaudet says the formal contribution agreements for funding like this don't usually take long to arrive. She said she expects the city to receive the agreement within the next 3 weeks.
