Callander’s mayor Rob Noon is “very hopeful” that a contract can be struck with the OPP for 2022’s police services for less than the original estimate of $1.4 million.
The estimate was provided during Callander’s council meeting on December 14, during which Sgt. Kelly Withrow provided a presentation on behalf of the OPP.
The price quoted would cover the annual cost of the transition between the North Bay Police Services (NBPS) to the OPP.
Known as a Section 10 policing agreement, this contract offers the full menu of OPP support. Another contract—known as Section 5.1—offers “base service,” and calls for service costs are tabulated as they accrue, Withrow mentioned during her presentation.
See: Fat stacks of cash for Callander’s thin blue line
Mayor Noon explained that the OPP are putting together numbers that might paint a clearer picture of what the costs might be for a 5.1 model—or a hybrid version of that 5.1 model.
“I’m very hopeful that the 5.1 or the 5.1 hybrid gives us a more palatable number that we can work with.”
Noon mentioned that the municipality had allocated “around $700,000 in the budget” for policing in 2022 and hoped this would cover the upcoming OPP expenses.
The town’s last contract with the North Bay Police was for $565,000. This expired early in the year, and as negotiations for a new service contract were warming up, come September the police decided they did not want to continue serving Callander.
See: North Bay Police ending service in Callander at the end of the year
As for whether Callander would return to the table with North Bay Police, Mayor Noon said he remains open to it, and in late October, the municipality requested a twelve-month extension of the contract, which was denied.
Mayor Noon mentioned that when each policing contract is set to expire, he looks into the OPP’s pricing to compare costs, “and the last was around $800,000, and the one before that was around $500,000.”
“When you go to buy a car, don’t you check around?” he asked. “And at $500,000 I think it’s in the best interest of the taxpayer for me to look around.”
The search continues, and Noon looks forward to receiving the new numbers from the OPP regarding the alternate 5.1 contract.
Noon hopes it will fall more in the range of the last contract with the North Bay Police, but time will tell.
“I think it’s in January when they will come back to us with the official numbers.”
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
