Sarnia's mayor has a positive outlook heading into another year as chair of the city's police services board.
Mike Bradley was chosen to serve another one-year term by acclamation at Thursday's meeting at Sarnia Police Headquarters. Paul Wiersma was acclaimed vice-chair.
Bradley said there are currently some very positive things happening on the board.
"First of all, for the first time in years there will be four new officers serving the city through increasing the complement, we have a new training facility which is state-of-the-art and is a precedent-setting one in Canada to be in a mall, we also have an enhanced 9-1-1 system that is going to be unfolding in the next period of time," he said.
Bradley said they've also started to focus as a board much more on issues within the police department, like mental health.
"Making sure our people are fully supported with their many stresses on the job, and the board is working very well together, has a good vision of where we're going in the future, and there will be a lot of enhancements to policing, and trying to respect also the ability of the public to pay," he said.
Bradley said the role of mayor intermingles with being the chair of the police board.
"[The police budget] is a huge part of our budget as a city, and the relationship is one that needs to be strong so that we're working together and that's the way it's worked. It's a very progressive board that we have here, and so I'm pleased with re-election again, and I'm looking forward to this board in particular because they have a really good focus on the key issues facing policing in the community."
