Leamington is moving forward with the Ontario Provincial Police in the municipality.
At their meeting on Tuesday night, council approved establishing the Leamington Police Services Board and a three-year contract for police services with the OPP.
It's been a process over the last few years for the OPP in Leamington, initially terminating a contract with the service back in 2020 before sticking with them after exploring other options.
Leamington Mayor Hilda MacDonald says they came back and have had intense conversations with the Regional Commander, as well as as their new Detachment Commander to get to this point.
"And we feel there is a new and open dialogue existing between ourselves and the OPP. I, and the rest of council, are hopeful that this will continue. We will always say what we think and what we feel, and we will demand the best for the people of our community," she said.
She says the province describes the OPP service provided as adequate and effective, but after these series of discussions, believes they've gotten a deal that will be over and above that.
"We want more than adequate, we want effective, but we want more than adequate," MacDonald continued. "So we spoke up and I feel that there has been a change in the service level that we are seeing in our community."
MacDonald feels there has been effective communication and a willingness to listen in their many discussions with the OPP.
She says this wasn't just noticed by people in the region either.
MacDonald says she received many calls from different municipalities and communities who said they were experiencing the same lack of communication, and were glad that someone finally did something
"I feel that we came to a watershed moment where the service knew that they had to change in order to accommodate changing municipalities and changing societies. And we have to give them kudos for that, that they recognized there needs to be a change. I thank my council for having the courage to say 'no this not good enough'."
Leamington's 2022 budget includes nearly $6-million ($5,994,303) for policing service, which represents an increase of $223,000 or 3.9% over 2021.
- with files from AM800's Rob Hindi