The City of North Bay continues to reject the proposed financing option involving the $122 million Cassellholme redevelopment project.
A motion of reconsideration involving the January 26th decision was defeated by a 7-4 vote at a special meeting of Council Thursday night.
That was one of several developments on the Cassellholme file.
There’s also a change with the city’s representation on the Cassellholme board.
Deputy Mayor Tanya Vrebosch has resigned from the board.
“Unfortunately the board is going in a direction that I don’t believe in,” Vrebosch says. “This has nothing to do with the redevelopment, I want to see it go through, it’s more in regards to the governance and concerns that I brought forward and it just seems that the board doesn’t see the same concerns that I do.”
Taking her place will be Mayor Al McDonald.
“My ultimate goal and the reason I want to be on the Cassellholme (board) is to see this redeveloped. That will be my goal and I look forward to working with all the members of the board,” he says. “It is my hope that we can bring all of the area municipalities back to the table to find some solutions.”
Also on the Cassellholme board are Councillor Chris Mayne, who serves as Chair, and Councillor Mark King.
At the earlier committee meeting of Council, the requirement from Infrastructure Ontario (IO) to guarantee the provincial share of the project was discussed, along with its financial implications.
Council heard that an external legal counsel does not recommend entering into the current form of guarantee.
Considering the regulation that all member municipalities need to pass resolutions agreeing to borrow the money, David Euler, Chief Administrative Officer was asked by Councillor Scott Robertson if the deal was “dead in the water” with municipalities like East Ferris rejecting it.
“That is how I would interpret it as well,” says Euler who was then asked about the next steps. “It’s really a question for the Cassellholme board, but what we have heard is that the Cassellholme board will next be considering the levy option. There could be other options, from what I’ve heard sitting through meetings with other municipalities the guarantee is one problem that the other municipalities, including our municipality, have concerns with. But the total cost of the project is also something that is a serious concern for every municipality.”
Also discussed was the scope of the project, ideas around finding savings, tweaking designs, looking at the tendering process and whether or not the city should even consider taking over ownership of the long-term care home.
At the end of that meeting, the majority of councillors voted to keep the issue on the committee file.
