The Ontario Provincial Police will continue to police the Town of The Blue Mountains.
At a special committee of the whole meeting on June 17, council voted unanimously in favour of a staff report recommending that the town agree to a six-year contract extension with the OPP.
Everitt told council the contract costs still fall within the town’s budget parametres. The 2024 budget for policing was $2,864,800.
The town will continue to share an OPP detachment with the Town of Collingwood.
The CAO said through the contract with the OPP the town receives three service enhancements.
One is a sergeant position for the supervision of community programs, another is a constable position as a traffic and community services officer and the third is an administrative clerk for the detachment building just outside Thornbury.
The six-year term is the maximum term the town can get. The town will also continue to maintain its own detachment board (formally known as the police services board).
The approval of the contract renewal came with no comments from members of council.
The OPP and policing were a theme of the special committee of the whole meeting. Earlier in the day, council received a presentation from Jim Oliver, chair of The Blue Mountains Police Services Board.
Oliver presented council with the annual report about the board’s activities. He also noted that the role and name of the board will be altered due to changes the province has introduced through the Community Safety and Policing Act.
Later in the meeting, Deputy Clerk Kyra Dunlop delivered a full report about the changes coming down from the province.
Dunlop said the board will now be required to prepare an annual budget for its activities that will be presented to, and approved by, council during the annual budget process. The budget will be strictly for the operations and activities of the board and not the police services received by the town.
Dunlop said the board will act as a “conduit for community feedback to the police” and will have its own procedural bylaw and liability insurance. She said out-of-the-gate there has been trouble securing a separate insurance policy for the board – a problem for all municipalities with OPP police boards. She said local municipalities are currently working to find a solution to solve the insurance issue.
The membership of the new board will be: Oliver, local resident Lynn Church, Mayor Andrea Matrosovs, Coun. Gail Ardiel and a provincial appointee to be determined.
Both Matrosovs and CAO Shawn Everitt praised Dunlop for her hard work on the file, noting The Blue Mountains board is in place and working, while many across the province are still organizing due to the new provincial rules.
“The reason we’re the first out of the gate is because we’ve been excellently organized by our deputy clerk,” said Matrosovs.
