Dryden Police Service once again under scrutiny, as mayor asks for OPP costing

Less than two years after city councillors in Dryden, Ont., voted against disbanding the municipal police force, the topic is once again on the council agenda.

In May 2019, councillors voted 6-1 to reject a proposal from the OPP to police the community.

The OPP costing study took two years to complete.

At the time, switching to the OPP would cost the city about $5 million in one-time transition costs.  The cost was unappealing to councillors, who said the city didn't have the cash on hand for that cost. The city has been dealing with a high debt load, after property tax reassessments of the city's pulp mill.

In 2016, the City of Dryden was forced to pay Domtar $7.9 million after the mill had its taxes reassessed, and further revenue from the mill was decreased.

Dryden Mayor Greg Wilson presented a Notice of Motion on Sept. 30 and will introduce it on Oct. 26, which he said is brought on by seeing how larger entities are better able to cope moving forward with COVID-19 challenges.

Wilson said, for example, the city's daycare services were recently transferred to the Kenora District Services Board, and are running more efficiently.

"I think there will be some variables that are new to the equation," he said, noting he believes the operating costs of the Dryden Police Service and OPP could now be quite different, considering various protocols for COVID-19.

"I don't know exactly what all of them will be, but I know there will be. A lot of this is COVID driven."

Coun. Shayne McKinnon, who is also a former police chief with the Dryden Police Service, originally asked for a moratorium on looking at moving to the OPP for more than a decade, after the original council vote.

The moratorium is not allowed until council's rules, but McKinnon said this costing should not be brought up again.

"[The savings touted by the mayor] fly in the face of the numbers received not 14 months ago.," McKinnon said.

"If DPS had in fact cost 73 per cent more than OPP, the vote may well have been 7-0, in favour of switching instead of 6-1 against."

"It was in fact cheaper to keep our own police service. So, I see some substantial education ahead for council to explain this obvious difference."

McKinnon suggested although Dryden is in a better financial position than it was a year ago, it still cannot afford the transition cost to the OPP. The cost includes severance pay, as well as other capital costs associated with moving to the OPP.

"This council and previous councils have worked hard to try and get us out from some of the financial anchors that weigh us down. And, we know that we will have to borrow money to fix our streets, buildings and to move the community forward with the times."

"Now, we are apparently in a position to spend upwards of $5 million in transition costs to switch police services," McKinnon said, after referring to the financial strain felt by the city for years.

Dryden is the only community in northwestern Ontario, besides Thunder Bay that has its own municipal police service.