Belleville Mayor Mitch Panciuk has met with representatives of a local group that provides a daily food program for those in need behind City Hall, to find ways to accommodate them better over the long term.
Members of the Not Alone Team Quinte met with Panciuk and some city councillors, after the program was brought up by members of the Downtown District during a delegation on concerns about vandalism and “social disorder” in the area.
Panciuk tells Quinte News he sees the food program and what’s happening downtown as two separate issues.
He added that the food program is much needed in the community, but Market Square may not be the right location because of some liability concerns with using city property.
Panciuk and councillors Sean Kelly and Kelly McCaw, who were also in the meeting encouraged the Not Alone Team to go to Hastings County and HPE Public Health officials to see about attaching it to their social service initiatives.
The mayor says he and representatives from Inn From The Cold want to see how some of the funds they’ve received from the city’s social infrastructure fund have been used and he gave some suggestions on making sure that the money available is targeted to the right people.
