What’s the rush on OPP decision?

By Meade Helman AWARE News Network March 21 2013 

The CAO Jay Currier shared a process with council to arrive at an OPP decision that is much more transparent than what has happened to date. It will review costs that have been ignored to this point like the upcoming 13.5% OPP increase; the cost of separation (the OPP will only take 30 officers and South Simcoe has 84 officers and support staff); and the cost of getting out of various lease agreements.

Councillor Crake said that the important issue was the protection of our citizens, not money. Councillor Lamb pointed out that a number of communities like Sarnia rejected the OPP offer because of the costs associated with the switch would require them to rise taxes 15%. Deputy Mayor Keffer pointed out that, even if the town approves this change, it would still have to be approved by an Ontario Policing Board. Councillor Hordyk and Mayor White were only concerned that the process be completed by June 18th. EDITORIAL COMMENT: Finally a more transparent process that allows for citizen input. On the other hand, why the rush? Why is June a magically do or die date?

SENIORS HOUSING

A public planning meeting was held on a pair of apartment buildings to cater exclusively to seniors. The site is on the north side of Line 8 between Artisan and Barrie Street. It received warm reception from council and there were no negative comments from citizens. There were a number of environmental concerns. EDITORIAL COMMENT: Appropriate affordable housing for seniors is desperately needed in BWG but the bad news a large part of this site is environmentally sensitive. The good news is that the owner developing this property seems to be genuinely concerned with protecting the sensitive parts of the site.

BUILDING PERMITS

Planning reported that the number of permits issued in 2012 is down from previous years. EDITORIAL COMMENT: The AWARE Simcoe vision – to be discussed at the public meeting in Bradford this Saturday – suggests that “new indicators of success and prosperity be created. Stop relying on indicators like the number of housing starts, or Gross Domestic Product, which assume that economic activity – any economic activity – is in itself beneficial. We need to use an indicator like the Canadian Index of Wellbeing to evaluate benefit and identify meaningless or harmful activities.”

 CLERK’S OFFICE

The Clerk’s Office reported progress on their Strategic Plan. Including renaming the department.

 Council then broke and went in-camera. EDITORIAL COMMENT: Again!