After years of controversy, Ward 2 Coun. Jason Farr will appeal to council to have the city step in and start paying Hess Village’s paid duty police costs instead of bar owners in the area footing the bill.

Representatives from the city as well as club owners, Hamilton police and neighbourhood associations met at city hall Monday to hammer out a way to change the current bylaw, which many consider unfair and unsustainable.

“There is a crisis in our midst when it comes to our only entertainment district,” Farr said. “Something needs to change.”

Most bar owners pay thousands of dollars each year into the city’s paid duty policing program – one that doesn’t exist anywhere else in Canada. According to police, about $110,000 was billed in paid duty costs in 2014 (alongside a 15-per cent city administration fee), which is split among bar owners on a capacity basis to have paid duty police officers patrol the area during Hess Village’s busiest season.

There’s no way we can go into the next season with the current model. - Ward 2 Coun. Jason Farr

But floundering crowds in Hess – which some owners estimate were down by as much as 50 per cent last year – have meant that club owners just can’t pay those bills.

“It’s the only place in all of Canada where operators are billed for policing,” said Jim Skarratt from the Lazy Flamingo. “It doesn’t make any sense. It’s just wrong.”

Funding to be found in 'city reserve'

Farr says he plans to draft a motion that would come to planning committee this month that would dictate the city pay for policing instead of the bar owners, and would be paid for by finding a reserve of city funding. The exact amount the city would have to pay has yet to be calculated, but would likely be in the $115,000 to $130,000 range annually.

“A new model is needed that respects the community, the police and our only entertainment district that has been having a tough time over the last couple of years,” Farr said.

“There’s no way we can go into the next season with the current model."

There were other options presented at the meeting to change the current paid duty situation, but none of them could be agreed upon. They were:

To do away with Hess Village’s entertainment district designation, nullifying the bylaw. Farr said that would likely be the toughest sell to council. To lower the amount of police officers being sent to Hess Village from eight to four. Hamilton police kiboshed that idea, saying the current service levels are necessary – something bar owners contest. Establish a Hess Village BIA so that grant funding and parking meter cash could be used to pay into the paid duty fund. Bar owners were skeptical about this option being sustainable.

In the end, Farr deemed having the city kick in the funds to be the best option, though it was difficult for all of the bar owners to agree on a set course of action in a sometimes contentious meeting where people were clearly frustrated. All parties repeatedly said they have no interest in “telling police how to police,” but maintained the current arrangement just doesn’t work.

Lawsuit on hold to find 'political solution'

Dean Collett, one of the owners of Sizzle/Koi and Diavolo, launched a lawsuit in an attempt to strike down the city's paid duty policing policy, but says the suit has been put on hold in an effort to find a “political solution.”

Collett says he’s willing to work with the city to find a compromise, but if one can’t be found before the bylaw kicks in again this year in April, he’d be forced to move ahead in court.

“I believe there is a solution to be found here,” Collett said. “I have no desire to go to court with the city.

“I remain flexible – but that window of flexibility is closing.”

Jonathan Therien, the president of the Strathcona Community Council, says that the current bylaw situation is “unfair,” but maintains that any changes have to “maintain proper policing in our neighbourhoods.”

“It is clear that it’s unfair to have cops being stuck in the middle of politics, and businesses being stuck paying into the bylaw,” he said.

Many Hess Village bar owners have ended up before the city’s licensing tribunal in recent years over unpaid paid duty fees, including Social Bar and Nightclub, The Gown and Gavel, Viva, Ceilidh House, Hush, Che and Sizzle/Koi.

adam.carter@cbc.ca | @AdamCarterCBC