New Mayor of Hamilton Jay Bluck will meet Deputy Police Commissioner Roseanda Young and Chamber of Commerce executive vice president Diane Gordon today as the controversy over Harbour Nights rumbles on.

Mrs. Young said last week that the popular tourist event will be policed by passing patrols of regular officers to ensure safety when it kicks off on Wednesday ? but the organisers will have to foot the bill if they want full-time patrols inside the event.

The current cost per hour to hire an ?extra duty? Police constable is $35.61 with a rate of $43.44 for a Sergeant.

Mrs. Young said simply brought the Front Street street fair under a long-standing Police policy for other similar gatherings. However, Mr. Bluck yesterday condemned the policy change toward Harbour Nights as ?unacceptable.?

?We are meeting to try to iron things out and find out what the Police have up their sleeve. They obviously have some idea that they are going to charge for policing public events. I personally feel that?s outrageous. We are the taxpayers who pay the Police salaries and I?m not used to paying for something twice,? he said.

Although Mrs. Young has told the policy of having organisers pay for ?extra duty? officers to complement regular Police patrols of large events is nothing new, Mr. Bluck was unhappy to hear this.

?This is a very recent policy that they are trying to institute and it?s not an acceptable change in policy,? he said.

Last week, Mrs. Gordon had responded to the controversy by saying that Harbour Nights would certainly be policed but the Chamber had not been formally notified that the Police had changed their approach. She added that its future would not be in doubt even if the Chamber had to foot the bill for extra patrols.