Councillor Mark King’s motion for North Bay City Council to consider a OPP costing for police services in North Bay was not approved by city council last night but will be back for reconsideration in 2 weeks.

The vote was 3-3 which means defeat for the motion.

Three councillors had conflicts of interest and two weren’t at the meeting.

King says the issue is important because the city ends being responsible for rising WSIB costs for first responders.

“Because we’re a city that’s not that big and we provide services like police and fire we are responsible for covering those premiums.”
King says if OPP provided the services they wouldn’t have to pay for WSIB payments for police.

On the other side is Mayor Al McDonald who needs to be convinced there’s a good reason to consider changing services.

“I wouldn’t want to see the jobs going outside of our community. I firmly believe that they need to stay here. I don’t see any reason to move to an OPP model.”

Councillor Jeff Serran wasn’t in favour of approving a costing but Councillor Mike Anthony was.

“But what I was after was for information only. My preference is to continue to work with the local police service. I would like to see some efficiencies found. I thought the information might be helpful.”
The three councillors who had conflicts were Sheldon Forgette, Derek Shogren and George Maroosis.

Filed under: mark-king, opp-costing