On City Beat Thursday, Mayor Colleen Smook gave a recap of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities meetings in Brandon.

Smook said one session focussed on disaster financial assistance and how to help evacuees in the case of forest fires, while another addressed the dangers of fires in the north this year.

Another took a look at the benefits and drawbacks of having 911 service, which the city is looking at.

Here she talks about the City’s Caucus which she chairs and one of their main concerns.

“It was the cost of policing the level of service provided verses the expectation of what we want for services. You know, do we get our dollars worth, how can we plan around that and work with either the RCMP or private policing.”

In the RCMP report shared at the Committee of the Whole Meeting on Monday, calls for service in the city were down almost 8 per cent from January to March this year, compared to the same time frame last year.

Currently, the Thompson RCMP has a vacancy of  6 officers and 5 municipal clerks.