One of the challenges the new board of the Nipissing District Social Services Administration Board will face early in its term is coping with cannabis legislation.
Chair Mark King says North Bay was given provincial funding to deal with challenges emergency providers will face when handling cannabis-related cases.
“But the (province) missed DSSAB,” King said.
King says once the new board takes over next month he expects the members to discuss some sort of cost-sharing arrangement with North Bay.
“This is to avoid increased costs to the surrounding communities that couldn’t take advantage of the cannabis process,” King said.
As for the new board, King says the members have their work cut out for them.
It’s because most of the councillor representatives on the board will be new after the fall elections saw quite a few veteran councillors from surrounding communities lose their seats.
King says DSSAB is an organization with a budget of more than $80-million and it handles welfare and EMS.
“DSSAB doesn’t fall under the Municipal Act, it’s under the DSSAB Act,” he said.
“There’s a tremendous learning curve that’s required to understand how the organization works. There’s a tremendous time commitment and I consider it like a second council job myself.”
The new members take office in January and King adds he intends to seek the chair’s position once again.
