The West Nipissing Police Services Board will be talking about the OPP costing study at its monthly meeting which is this evening.
Board members are expected to offer their comments on the cost to switch from municipal policing to the OPP.
Council accepted the OPP offer last December.
The municipal force will be disbanded as of October 11th.
The municipal police personnel who have been accepted to be part of the OPP will begin training sessions in Orillia at that time.
The training is over several days and the former municipal police will begin their OPP patrol duties as of October 15th.
The board meeting takes place in the library auditorium in Sturgeon Falls and begins at 5:30pm.
Police Chief Chuck Seguin, says the meeting is open to the public.
Meanwhile, it’s hoped construction on the new OPP building in Sturgeon Falls to serve West Nipissing can begin this June.
The site covers four acres on Highway 17 by the Cache Bay entrance.
Once the OPP formerly takes over policing, the personnel will work out of a temporary site on John Street at the former rink building.
The municipality has to retrofit that building beforehand.
Staff says the money put into the retrofit won’t be wasted because the building is part of a revitalization project for the area.
It’s hoped the new building is ready for occupancy by the fall of 2019.
The new OPP building will still cost $8 million but the municipality will now get some savings.
Originally it was believed the municipality would shoulder the full cost of the new build and maintenance.
However council has learned that Infrastructure Ontario will cover about half the cost taking the municipal share down to about $4 million.
The OPP told staff and council that the current municipal police building does not meet their needs explaining the need for a new building.