West Nipissing Council has voted to accept an OPP Contract Policing proposal, replacing the West Nipissing Police Service.

The decision was made at Tuesday night’s Council meeting.

The motion passed by a vote of 6-2, with one councillor declaring a conflict.

Mayor Joanne Savage voted no and says there were issues with the process and short timeline.

She says it’s not just about numbers, it’s about people.

“To have all the information and for a process for people to be able to provide their voice,” Savage adds.

She says there was a request for this, but the democratic process has to be respected, pointing out a couple of amendments were defeated.

“The fact that even having the opportunity to meet with OPP to clarify and quantify the proposal that was presented to council, that motion was defeated. The motion for the referendum was defeated,” she says.

West Nipissing Police released a poll on Tuesday that stated the majority of residents surveyed would’ve liked the costing issue to be a referendum question.

As for what’s next, Savage says staff will bring forward costing implicatons to their budget deliberations.

“We have to look at what are the options that will be provided to council for exit costs, as well as proposals for the facility that was identified within the proposal and forecasted at $8-million,” she says.

The OPP costing report says the current West Nipissing Police Services building is unsuitable and an alternate facility and location needs to be provided by the municipality.

Next steps also include the transition period with OPP taking over in 2018.

Filed under: opp, west-nipissing-police-service