Towns talk about sharing services rather than amalgamating

Ken Johnston

Amalgamation was a dirty word last Wednesday, at least for officials from Dawson and Lake of the Woods Townships.
At a meeting in Rainy River last week, Rainy River Mayor Glen Armstrong opened the session with two easels headlined with “Amalgamation Pro” and “Amalgamation Con”.
However both LoW Reeve Val Pizey and Dawson Reeve John Amundsen would have nothing to do with it. “That is not what your letter said,” said Pizey who said she felt the meeting was called to discuss the potential of sharing services among the neighbouring townships. Amundsen echoed her opposition to discussing amalgamation.
Pizey also said, “Lake of the Woods taxpayers are not interested in losing autonomy with anyone but they are interested in saving money.”
Reeve Amundsen restated his municipality’s position that he outlined when the idea of amalgamating the three municipalities was brought up in February by Mayor Armstrong, “We are always willing to listen to a proposal that could benefit the citizens of Dawson.” He added that until Rainy River has a solid proposal with all the facts and figures there is no point in discussing the pros and cons of the idea.
The meeting then shifted to what services they could share. They included, running the medical centre, expanding shared library services, fire departments, recreation centres, road maintenance, equipment, water & sewer, recycling and garbage.
Mayor Armstrong noted that Rainy River is a shrinking population but still has the same services to maintain such as library and arena. “Costs keep going up but we do not have enough users from our own municipality.
LoW and Dawson contribute $3,000 grants (each) to the library each year to help with the costs of operation as many of their citizens use the facility. LoW Councillor Tony Sepers asked how many people from his municipality use the library. “If we are not paying our fair share we would be willing to look at contributing more but we need numbers.”
LoW and Dawson Clerk Pat Giles said he attempted to get names of library users from the library to get an accurate picture on usages but said the library would not release the information due to privacy concerns. Reeve Pizey asked him if the library could not just give him numbers and why he needed names. “To make sure they are ours,” Giles answered.
Part of the problem with just numbers is a person living in an unorganized township can have a RR #1 Sleeman address but not be a resident of Dawson or LoW. Giles did note that he is another government agency and can not release the names and felt there should be no cause for concern from the library to give him the information.
Pizey agreed with Sepers saying, “Give us the numbers and maybe we can look at more money for it.”
Sepers said the situation at the Rainy River Council run medical centre is similar. “We need numbers and then can look at it.”
On recreation LoW Councillor Joanne Moen said they have their own facilities and, “I can not see Lake of the Woods contributing to rec. programs in Rainy River.”
Reeve Pizey said, “There is no opposition to paying rent for ice time, etc.”
Mayor Armstrong noted that many of the kids in the hockey and figure skating programs are from Dawson and LoW and register with the local clubs and then get local ice rental rates.
Sepers again echoed, “I do think if Rainy River can show us we are not paying our fair share we can look at it.”
Reeve Pizey said there could be some savings in shared training amongst fire departments.
RR Councillor Dean Wiersema suggested that not only for fire departments but also road maintenance depts. specialized equipment could be shared hence saving each town having to buy it.
It was also suggested that buying together might give the towns more buying power and get better prices on equipment purchases.
It was said by most present that citizens would like a recycling program but the stumbling block is how to provide a program that is not astronomical in costs.
Road maintenance savings would likely be nominal said Dawson Councillor Archie Wiersema. “Snow hits us all at the same time and the plows are needed in all towns at the same time.”
LoW Reeve Pizey said, “We might be able to cut one road superintendent saving the taxpayers money.”
RR Deputy Clerk Treasurer Veldron Vogan suggested that, “We could work together sending crews (when idle) from Rainy River to do work in Dawson and then they would all come to Rainy River when needed here.”
Reeve Pizey was the only one to touch on Administration saying, “We need to look at it.” After the meeting she said, “We could get by with one clerk for us all.”
Dawson Reeve Amundsen said, “We now have a list, lets go back to our groups and see where we can share and save.”
Councillor Dean Wiersema agreed saying, “We need to study things like how often our men and equipment are sitting idle.” He also wondered if looking at other recent amalgamations could shed light on any cost savings.
Clerk Giles said, “It actually costs more.” Both Dawson and LoW are amalgamations from several townships into two.
Reeve Amundsen also noted that clout on district boards is sometimes lost as several councils became one.
Dawson Councillor Archie Wiersema who was involved in the amalgamation for Dawson said, “We all thought there was going to be big savings and there wasn’t.” He also noted that most residents in Dawson already have wells and septic fields and would not likely be interested in Rainy River’s water and sewer services, which he noted are unable to be expanded at present due to the sewer system being maxed out.
Mayor Armstrong ended the meeting by saying, “We don’t want to take you over we want you to take us over. We were originally carved out of Atwood (now Dawson) and are stuck out here by ourselves. Look at Barwick in Chapple Township or Stratton in Morley. We would like you to adopt us.”
Reeve Amundsen said, “Let’s get the numbers so we can look at options in more detail.”
Councillor Archie Wiersema suggested that all three communities need people and jobs. He and RR councillor Gerry Marchuk felt that collectively they could advertise the area as a retirement living destination.
It was noted that retirees in the past did not want to buy old homes to maintain but in fact wanted condominiums to live in. Clerk Giles said such a project is coming.