The chair of the West Nipissing Police Services Board is welcoming a judicial review of efforts to shutter the local police station and bring in the OPP.
After it held its regular meeting today, Barry Bertrand said in a news release that, "The Board is pleased that the Court has agreed to hear its request to halt the operation of By-Law 2017/85 until October, when it has had the opportunity to hear the full Application for Judicial Review. This motion has been scheduled for July 12th. The Ontario Civilian Police Commission has agreed to further delay its consideration of the Municipality’s Section 40 Application until, at minimum, July 16th to allow for the motion before the Divisional Court to proceed."
Bertrand says the board is confident that it will be successful in its motion on July 12th because the Municipality has "utterly failed to present any credible evidence" as to how it will be prejudiced by a brief delay.
"While Mr. Barbeau (Jay Barbeau, Chief Administrative Officer) has asserted that the Municipality stands to lose out on an immediate cost savings of approximately $800,000, this assertion is false," continued Bertrand.
"The financial reports prepared by the Municipality demonstrate that the OPP proposal will not result in a break-even point until, at minimum, 2025," explained Bertrand. "The Board has sufficient funds in its budget to continue this legal action and feels, due to the Council’s continued failure to act in the best interests of the community, that it is compelled to continue with the determination of this legal process. The costs associated with this process would not have been necessary but for the unreasonable conduct of Council."
