The Town of Espanola will no longer have its own dedicated police board.
The existing board will be lending its support to a proposed structure for a local OPP Police Services Board.
Deputy Mayor Bill Foster says a ten-member board was originally proposed by the Lacloche Foothills Municipal Association, which would have included representation from five municipal areas, the Manitoulin Island police board and the Sagamok-Anishnawbek Police Service.
However, Foster told council the island board was not interested in having a member sit on the Lacloche board and the First Nation police’s itself and has its own shared agreement with OPP.
The newly proposed eight-member Police Services Board was approved by council with the resolution being forwarded to the municipal association for final approval.
The resolution is also being dealt with by the member communities of Nairn, Sables-Spanish and Baldwin and Whitefish Falls area communities.
The association must submit the proposal to the government by June 7, and once reviewed and approved by the Ministry of the Solicitor General, the board will be established this fall.
Espanola always had its own police board, but when the municipal service was disbanded a few years ago, the board had to be realigned to meet OPP requirements. That board will be defunct and new members will be chosen to represent the area. The proposed representation breaks down as follows; three representatives from Espanola, two from council, one appointed from the community at large by the province, two for Sables-Spanish Rivers Township council and one each for Baldwin and Nairn & Hyman council, as well as a provincial appointee for the Lang Lake/Whitefish Falls area.
