Sunday September 11, 2011

Ladies and Gentlemen

What a week-end in Midland.  Everything from professional tree climbing in Little Lake Park; to a Pow Wow in Ste. Marie; to an art show at the Huronia museum;  to boating in the bay. The summer that keeps on giving.

The week starts for your Mayor in Toronto on Monday. The MPUC will be meeting with Hydro One and the Ministry of Energy to discuss improving hydro service to our Town.  That same evening at 7:00 pm at Town Hall is the September General Committee meeting.  On the agenda:

-          a report on splash-pools, possibly coming to our park

-          a decision on parking and water access improvements at Pete Peterson Park

-          should Party on the Dock expand to become a full week-end festival?

-          a review of the residential waste collection options for Midland that your County Council will be deciding upon

On Thursday September 15 at 5:30 pm the Town budget meetings begin. This first meeting will focus on the 2012 capital budgets.

On Saturday September 17^th the Huronia Foundation for the Arts and Stellula Music are hosting a Fish Fry Funday in Little Lake Park. Starting at 3:00 pm and finishing at 11:00 pm, It will be a day of good eating, children’s games, a beer tent and live music starting at 7:00 pm. A day ticket is $20, children under 12 are free. A good excuse to have fun at Little Lake.

Looking ahead, fall leaf vacuuming and pick-up starts right after Thanksgiving (October 11th) and continue to November 10th, weather permitting, The Town will try to clean-up the last leaves the week of November 14th.

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This past week your Town made a presentation to the Pentanguishene Police Services Board, asking them to join with Midland to form a new joint police service. Penetanguishene also asked the OPP to make a proposal to them about continuing to provide contract policing services.  As opposed to summarizing the presentation meeting and its results, I will quote a piece the Gerry Marshall sent to his residents yesterday.

“One of the items of most interest from last week, was the receipt of the bid submissions and subsequent presentations from both the OPP and Midland Police forces.  Please note while reviewing the numbers and data below that the Central North Correctional Center (CNCC) charges are paid by the CNCC and  have no municipal tax implications and that the Town charges noted below are paid by the municipality and do have municipal tax implications.

 

OPP

THE UPSIDE – A credible policing option with a very professional persona.  A large depth of force and services provided that can manage our day to day needs. In an emergency they can quickly add their own resources to the complement of responding officers.  Numbers provided were in depth and hit all the contractual points.

DOWNSIDE -  the Town portion of the pricing sees a $300,000 per annum ( 21% increase) from our actual policing costs for 2010.  A $278,000 (17.2% increase) over their 2011 estimate.   A 3.7% tax hike would be required to support the increase. 

Midland

UPSIDE – A professional and credible policing option that can manage our day to day needs.  In an emergency they leverage their relationship with the OPP and Barrie Police for assistance.  The overall number quoted sees a modest savings. The Town portion sees a significant price differential as they come in at $300,000 less per annum then the OPP.  The Midland number proposed for the Town policing portion would result in a zero tax increase.

DOWNSIDE - Midland provided numbers based on our historic policing activities from past years and provided little background detail.  Midland positioned that the lack of detail related to the need of the new 5 person Joint Police Services Board to determine the joint policing model, philosophy and actual move forward service levels.  Once completed the final and true costs could be derived.

As you can quickly see, both proposals come with pro’s, con’s, concerns and questions.  That said, I wanted to get some details to you quickly and well in advance of our upcoming Public Consultation so you had time to get your head around the issues and collect your thoughts.   I do need to highlight though, that there is far greater information that we need to share with you.  I would do this topic a true injustice to say more at this time, without going into a full deep detailed description of all the facts and consideration. 

We will be delving deep into the facts and details during our Public Consultation being held on September 21^st , 7 p.m. at Townhall.  I do encourage you, your neighbours and friends to attend.  If you could spread the word about the consultation, I would appreciate it.  Along with advertising the public consultation, we will send direct invites to the schools, banks, liquor store, beer stores, corner stores, taxi companies and others to remind them of this meeting. We need your input, insight and thoughts on all of this.  Please do come and share with us.  In the interim please do not hesitate to email or call in advance of the meeting.

Formal Price Submissions

2012 Cost	Town of Midland	OPP
Town	$1,599,079 (includes $96,678 in capital)	$1,897,697
CNCC	$833,771 (includes $60,000 in capital)	$658,975
TOTAL	$2,432,850	$2,556,672

*2011 budget $2,471,292 ($851,672 CNCC + $1,619,620 Town)

 from Gerry Marshall, Mayor Penetaguishene”

Pentanguishene is about to make a very significant decision for the future of policing in their community. We have put forward our position that joining with Midland to create a new force is in the best interests of both communities. If they should decide in favour of a joint service, we would then start the discussions that may eventually lead to that conclusion.  There will be ample opportunity in both communities for public consultation and input before any final decision are taken on a new joint force.

Gord McKay