Windsor puts Amherstburg on notice to end policing contract

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Amherstburg is on the hunt for a new police service just six years after signing up with Windsor Police Service, after city council made the decision to end its contract with the town.

Mayor Michael Prue confirmed Wednesday the town was notified by Windsor of the pending change but said as far as he knows, no reason was offered.

“I am disappointed,” Prue told the Star.

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“Council is going to have to look at all the options available to us,” he said. “We’re hoping that our CAO (chief administrative officer Valerie Critchley) can talk to the CAO (Joe Mancina) of Windsor and see if there’s anything that can be done.

“And if not, then we have other options we’re going to have to explore.”

Amherstburg town council is set to meet Monday at 4 p.m. in closed session to discuss those options.

Locally, LaSalle has its own municipal police service, while the Ontario Provincial Police provide service in Essex, Tecumseh, Lakeshore, Kingsville and Leamington.

“The report has not been written,” Prue said. “Our CAO is going to make a verbal report and some written documentation available to council for Monday at four o’clock.”

Windsor Police Service officially took over policing in Amherstburg in January 2019.

Amherstburg disbanded its municipal police department after council narrowly voted to contract out the service, with then-mayor Aldo DiCarlo casting the deciding vote.

Windsor and Amherstburg signed a deal to have Windsor Police Service handle Amherstburg’s policing for 20 years with a review every five years. The move was expected to save the town about $570,000 a year.

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Late in 2023, Amherstburg council approved the first five-year renewal of the contract.

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said the city has given the town four years notice of the change.

“For us, it’s really just a financial issue,” Dilkens said. “We evaluate the provision of the service every year, and we’re pretty close to the wire in terms of Windsor taxpayers almost subsidizing the provision of policing to Amherstburg.”

As the partnership progressed, Dilkens said it became clear that Windsor could not provide the service Amherstburg wanted under the current contract.

“Over time, certainly after six years, you have a better revenue and expense picture when you actually start delivering the service,” said Dilkens. “It’s just clear to the city council and the police board, we’re in a position where we’re lucky to break even. It’s just not a position that city council feels comfortable being in.”

But he added that it’s not an acrimonious split and Windsor is willing to see if there’s a way to “renegotiate the dollars and cents of the contract.”

“If there is and both sides can agree to it, we’re more than willing to continue providing service to the town,” said Dilkens.

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“If we can’t, at least they’ve been given four years notice that we’re going to discontinue the service and that gives them plenty of time to figure out what their next step might be.”

Continuing with the same level of service would require a “different cost structure,” he said.

“If they want a different level of service, we can look at that as well,” said Dilkens. “This is not a hard stop for us, where we don’t want to have a conversation with them and try and figure it out, but just based on the wording of our contract, we had to give them notice that we don’t want to continue it.”

Prue was not a fan of disbanding the town’s police force when discussions were held seven years ago.

“I just want to say I was there (when discussions were held regarding the disbandment of the Amherstburg police force),” he said. “I was not a member of council but I did come to the public meetings and I did speak at length about what a bad idea it was for our police force, to sell all our vehicles, to get rid of all our cops.

“And here it is come to roost,” he said.

“We just will have to make a strong and firm decision on Monday at four o’clock exactly what path we’re going to go down.”

— with notes from Trevor Wilhelm

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