The line between promotion and privacy can be blurry, as Bracebridge councillors found out earlier this week.

On Monday, the administration and finance committee accepted a report on downtown webcams, giving the Business Improvement Area (BIA) an endorsement to proceed with the project. The committee was presented with an alternative motion to ask the BIA to halt the project, but opted not to, despite the reservations of some councillors.

In November, council was first informed that the BIA was in the final stages of securing a contract to conduct technological upgrades for the downtown area. Those include fibre optic connectivity, wireless speakers and the installation of several webcams, to be used to promote tourism and curb criminal activity in the downtown core.

Council requested a report on the project, which was compiled by town and BIA staff and presented before the meeting.

Town clerk Lori McDonald told the committee that staff is in support of the project, and outlined the various benefits.

McDonald said the BIA is committed to ensuring all standards of the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act are followed.

The committee was shown examples of similar webcams in Brampton and Sault Ste. Marie, and told of several others in communities such as Owen Sound, Toronto and Hamilton.

Bracebridge OPP detachment commander Inspector Ed Medved weighed in on the issue in a letter addressed to the municipality.

“I would like to indicate that the Bracebridge detachment of the OPP is in full support of this proposal,” said Medved. “I feel that the use of CCTV is an effective tool from both a crime prevention perspective as well as an investigative tool after the fact.”

Mae Brazier, BIA president, assured council that no contract regarding the project would be signed until council has given its approval, and the BIA is committed to working with the town.

Councillor Graydon Smith said he would support the project, but he wanted assurances that the cameras will only to be used to follow up on specific acts and not for monitoring the public at large.

McDonald said the stream available on the Internet will not have sufficient resolution for images such as licence plates or people’s faces to be visible. However, she said high-resolution images would be stored in a secure location for review by the OPP if required.

CAO John Sisson told the committee that while they ultimately have no control over whether the BIA decides to proceed with the project, the town does fund the BIA and if the committee decided to vote against the report, the BIA would likely respect its wishes. However, Sisson reiterated that staff is strongly in favour of supporting the project, as all of their concerns have been addressed.

The committee voted in favour, but not everyone had a ringing endorsement for the project, including Mayor Don Coates. After the meeting, Coates said he has concerns about the privacy issue, but he would not stand in the way of council.

“The majority appear to be in favour of it . . . and I won’t try to stop that,” said Coates. “My hope is that this is for promotion and not surveillance.”

Councillor Scott Young said he wasn’t buying the argument that the primary use of the cameras will be for tourism.

“We can say what we want about it being a tourism initiative, but I think that might be blowing sunshine,” he said. “If you step back, you realize that it’s a tool to prevent crime and some of the petty acts on the street. Council is quite right to approach it from that point of view.”

Young said he still has concerns about the project, but he now has enough information to support it.

“In the world we live in, it’s becoming more and more accepted for the public sphere to work its way into electronic media. You see it with Facebook and camera phones. People are taking pictures of themselves and their friends and putting it right up on the web,” said Young. “I know many councillors have concerns, but in the overall picture I don’t think people’s rights or privacy are going to be infringed on by having cameras in downtown Bracebridge.”