HINTON – The Hinton RCMP detachment is asking the Town to unfreeze one position to focus on traffic enforcement and education.
Staff Sgt. Shiloh Fragomeni, detachment commander of the Hinton RCMP, told council on Tuesday (May 27) there was no contract for photo enforcement, and Hinton Municipal Enforcement has one officer out of two currently staffed.
In addition, the Edson Traffic Unit spent three days within Hinton in March, and all other units did enforcement on provincial highways, not within town.
“If this position was funded, the member’s priorities would be to conduct traffic enforcement within the town of Hinton, with a primary focus within town limits,” Fragomeni said.
This position would also organize check stops, attend school functions, complete traffic operations with policing partners and report monthly to the detachment commander.
Two RCMP positions have been frozen since April 2024, resulting in the Town only funding 17 of the 19 established positions. It only budgeted for 15.5 full-time equivalents (FTE) in 2025 due to soft vacancies and further reduced the amount by $89,089 during the recent budget adjustments, representing another 0.5 FTE reduction.
Currently, there are 12.9 FTEs within the department—one member is long-term off-duty sick, another is on paternal leave, one position was filled as of May 7 and another position will be filled in June. Three members are awaiting transfer out.
There was no timeline for the unfrozen position being filled, although the detachment was confident it could do so.
Coun. Albert Ostashek confirmed with Fragomeni that the detachment was almost never fully staffed.
“In my experience, yes, because we always have a member that’s either leaving [or] coming,” Fragomeni replied. “It takes some time to sell a home, to buy a home and so we always end up with a bit of space in between there where we drop our FTE and then we’re able to gain it back.”
Ostashek noted this increase in capacity could lead to higher staffing levels at the detachment.
Each RCMP member costs $248,042 annually with the Town paying $173,630 and the provincial government covering the remainder. This $248,042 encompasses the member’s salary and other expenses such as vehicles and admin costs.
The cost of policing to the Town is $768,470 per quarter, but the cost was less for the last two quarters due to having fewer staff than expected.
Administration estimated unfreezing the position would cost $173,671 annually. For the remainder of the year, it would cost $89,000, although any unspent wages would be reimbursed, and soft vacancies and recruitment timelines likely meant this would be budget neutral.
Fragomeni noted the traffic position would also lead to additional revenue via traffic tickets.
Coun. Trevor Haas spoke in favour of unfreezing the position and hoped to look at unfreezing the other position in the future.
“I realize that currently unfreezing both of them would have a budget impact whereas this one won’t,” Haas said, but noted how the detachment was almost never fully staffed.
Council will decide on the matter at next week’s meeting.
