The future of a new police facility is still up in the air, despite a recent revelation that the mayor may have "overstepped" with the use of strong mayor powers on the Sarnia Police Service's (SPS) budget.
Strong mayor powers were used initially to axe funding for a new police headquarters from the draft budget. An amendment to allocate $5 million through borrowing also failed, as it didn't meet the necessary six votes to override the mayor's decision.
A letter from the Office of the Solicitor General and Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, presented during Thursday's SPS Board meeting, said strong mayor powers do not give the power to limit police board budget increases or veto estimates.
"Under section 50 of the [Community Safety and Policing Act], a police service board must submit their operating and capital estimates to the municipality, which is then responsible for establishing an overall budget for the police service board," read the letter. "Although municipalities are not required to adopt the board’s estimates as submitted, they cannot approve or reject specific line items within the estimates."
The letter said there are two dispute resolutions: refer the matter to arbitration, or both parties can jointly apply to the Commission Chair of the Ontario Police Arbitration and Adjudication Commission to appoint a conciliation officer.
"Because the mayor overstepped, why wouldn't the mayor reverse that decision on his own?" questioned newly elected SPS Board Vice Chair Anne Marie Gillis.
Gillis, who's also a city councillor, asked why the ministry's letter wasn't sent before January 12.
An advisor recommended they engage with the board's legal council to seek further clarity, noting there's a lot to be learned with the new strong mayor powers and policing act.
Board member Paul Wiersma said conversations have been held, but he still supported the motion to speak with legal council, avoid arbitration, and proceed with plans for a new police facility.
The motion passed unanimously.
Newly elected SPS Board Chair Kelly Ash agreed that arbitration was "not the way to go" and didn't want to antagonize what she described as a community project.
"I think going into this build with division is not the right way to do it," she said. "We don't want to be forceful with it. It's a community build."
While the board agreed to move forward with plans, Ash said it's unclear at this point what that may look like.
"We still have to discuss it, we still have to look at our options as far as the design of the build," said Ash. "Maybe some more research of the different previous builds on other forces, see where we can make accommodations."
Ash said all options are being considered, including a possible scale-down.
In July, city council agreed (in a 6-3 vote) to set aside approximately 11.7 acres of land for a new police facility on the north side of the Sarnia Business and Research Park, which was declared as surplus by the city in 2023. The new build was last estimated to cost $91 million.
"Everything's on the table at this point. We're not committing to anything so it's looking at examples like that, looking at... is a secondary location maybe an option," Ash said. "This building cannot keep going. It can't house us. There are functions of the building that just won't work for us anymore, so we do have to explore our options. What those are, I don't know yet."
In the meantime, Ash said there are repairs that need to be done to the Christina Street building to bring it to code.
"The front steps, they've got to be done because somebody's going to fall. They're not wide enough, they're falling apart, the ramp goes right out to Christina Street so that's obviously not in line with the [Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act]," Ash said. "The HVAC system needs to be updated some of the plumbing systems have to be done."
Repairs and upgrades to the current police facility are estimated to cost $4.45 million.
