KAREN BEST
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Dunnville Chronicle
For the third time, Haldimand County council delayed a decision on how, if at all, municipal policing will be reviewed.
Earlier in the year, Coun. Craig Grice, who represents Caledonia, launched a process to investigate options to replace the county's Ontario Provincial Police contract which will expire on Sept. 30, 2008. He, Coun. Buck Sloat and Mayor Marie Trainer incorporated a review into policing options in their campaigns.
If council's concern is related to Douglas Creek Estates (DCE) in Caledonia, a change in policing will not be a solution, said county corporate services general manager Karen General. DCE and related issues are provincial and will be policed by OPP, she said. Other council members have expressed disappointment over policing related to Six Nations issues. However, changes may not be in the county's best interests, according to some members.
At Monday's meeting, council took Coun. Tony Dalimonte's advice and deferred a decision to examine contracting with another police service or establishing a county police department. He advised his colleagues to reflect on the staff report for a few days and come back on June 25 with written comments. An objective review is essential to prevent an appeal of the decision to the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services, he said.
"If you want to go ahead, write what you hope to achieve with this process," he said. "You better know what you're doing."
Senior county staff told council a policing review will take county employees away from important responsibilities including budgeting for 2008, development charges bylaw work and valuing county assets as required by the province.
The entire process will be time consuming, said General. A lot will depend on the expertise of policing framework committee members, she said. When the Haldimand-Norfolk transition board reviewed policing in 2000, staff were required to provide information and analysis.
In 1997, the former Haldimand-Norfolk region reviewed policing, staff recommended the regional force be retained, and regional council opted to contract with OPP.
Dissatisfied with the sharing of OPP costs on that joint contract with Norfolk County, Haldimand studied its options in 2001. A taskforce recommended Haldimand enter its own contract with the OPP. Grice wanted to move forward with an in-depth study to exhaust all possibilities. The county will have more control over its own force, said Coun. Lorne Boyko. If DCE had not come up, council would not be dealing with this at all, he said. When issues were at their height, everyone he met complained about the OPP. He did not want to give the public the impression council was pushing off a decision again, but he also wondered if a decision could be made and new policing could be in place by next September.
Under the Police Services Act, the OPP would be required to continue policing with costs based on month to month services after the county's contract expires.
All but Grice voted to continue the debate on June 25.