Mayor Waites Statement – December 28, 2020 – Formation of Task Force on Community Safety
Today, I am reaffirming my prior commitment to ensure a safe environment for all of our citizens, visitors and the surrounding communities and am pleased to report that there is consensus among our elected and community leaders to take all necessary action in order to do so.
To aggressively meet this challenge head-on, I, as the Mayor of the City of Baker along with my colleagues on the Baker City Council will be forming a Task Force on Public Safety. This task force shall be comprised of myself, two members of the City Council, and the Baker Chief of Police and Baker Fire Chief as well as civic community leaders.
This initiative is committed to creating a visible and engaged presence which is proactively taking all available action to reduce crime and violence and increase public safety.
I urge all citizens to be and remain vigilant and also participate in this process so we may work together for the collective good of our community as is directed in Hebrews 10:24: And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.
Our plan will be comprehensive; addressing any issue that may allow for the growth of criminal activity. It will be driven based upon identifiable factors that allow a safe haven for criminals and criminal activity. Within this framework we are going to focus on:
Communication: a critical component of all problem solving processes and developing a cohesive strategy to manage a situation.
Forming Critical Partnerships: engaging with the community and leaders to identify areas of need and establish foundational relationships which will promote the success of all public safety initiatives.
Along the way we will be utilizing these initial framework components, both consecutively and concurrently, to ensure positive progress.
We will hold a Virtual Town Hall meeting on January 19, 2021 from 6pm - 7pm (meeting details to be published in upcoming communication) with the exclusive topic of Community Safety, at which time we are seeking community input on what the Task Force can focus on as long- and short-term action items calculated to reduce crime.
I look forward to your input and working to move Baker forward together.
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