OLIVER PAIPOONGE, Ont. - The proposed merger between Oliver Paipoonge and Conmee will not be moving forward after one council voted in favour, while the other voted against following strong opposition from community members.
Both councils held votes Monday evening, with Conmee voting in favour of the merger by a vote of 5 to 0. However, the Oliver Paipoonge voted the proposal down by a vote of 4 to 1.
“I was not surprised. It is a difficult thing to try and understand,” said Oliver Paipoonge mayor, Lucy Kloosterhuis, who was the only one on the Oliver Paipoonge council to vote in favour of the merger. “I feel there would have been a benefit for the residents, but majority rules and we move forward.”
The proposal to merge the Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge and the Township of Conmee was first brought forward in June. A report was prepared by Grant Thorton on the potential cost savings of the merger, but public consultations leading up to the vote saw community members in Oliver Paipoonge saying the merger would not benefit the municipality.
“Up until the public meetings we held last week that were well attended by our residents, I was really looking for reasons to support both sides of the merger proposal,” said Oliver Paipoonge council member, Bernie Kamphof, who voted against the proposal.
“I think there is merit to the merger proposal presented, but we had overwhelming negative reaction from our residents toward the merger proposal and that is the main reason I voted against it.”
Oliver Paipoonge is the larger of the two communities, with a population of more than 7,000 compared to Conmee’s population of approximately 800.
Kamphof said in the fourth year of the merger, the average Conmee homeowner would see a reduction in property taxes of between $1,000 to $1,200, while the average resident in Oliver Paipoonge would only see a reduction of between $30 and $40 in property taxes.
“There are a lot of risks involved with the merger of two municipalities,” he said. “To have that small of a savings our residents didn’t see that as a big enough benefit.”
Concerns were also raised that Conmee has more infrastructure projects, such as unpaved roads, compared to Oliver Paipoonge.
Both councils had to vote in favour of the merger for it to move forward and Conmee mayor, Kevin Holland, said the time was right for the Township to merge with Oliver Paipoonge.
“I had full confidence in my council in doing the right thing in that regard. I had a full confidence they would do the right thing based on the information,” he said after the vote was held in Conmee prior to the Oliver Paipoonge vote.
“I think there’s a lot of reasons that the timing is right for looking at this merger. This proposal finds savings. There are benefits to both communities and in my opinion has the merit to move forward.”
Residents in Oliver Paipoonge also raised concerns that proposing a merger during the COVID-19 pandemic did not allow for proper public consultation.
“A lot of the sticking point was around the fact that we’ve done the consultation during a pandemic and people weren’t able to engage with the process,” Kamphof said. “That was a big problem. And people didn’t see enough benefit for residents and taxpayers for people in Oliver Paipoonge.”
But Holland argued municipalities will need to work extra hard to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and work toward economic recovery.
“There’s been a lot of comments about doing this during COVID and I think it was the responsible thing to do. Our country and the world is going to be in a very tough financial situation,” he said. “We have a responsibility to try and find ways to help the country, particularly our communities navigate these tough times.”
Kloosterhuis said she does not believe there are hard feelings on other side now that the merger is not moving forward.
“There are no hard feelings and I’m sure there are not with Conmee as well,” she said. “We did our best, we fought for our residents and time will tell.”
And this is not to say another proposal will not be brought to the communities again in the future.
“This is probably going to come up again, whether it’s Conmee or joining another municipality to Oliver Paipoonge,” Kamphof said. “As a council we will look at it again but maybe it’s better we talk about it in conjunction with an election so voters have a choice on what they support.”
With files from Cory Nordstrom/TBT News.
