FONOM Board Meeting – May 13th, 2020
May 15, 2020
The Federation of Northeastern Ontario Municipalities met on Wednesday, May 13th, 2020, by ZOOM, to discuss the issues and challenges facing their 110 members. Since the COVID19 Pandemic contributed to the cancellation of FONOM’s Annual Conference, the Executive and Board have been meeting monthly to understand the changing landscape better. President Danny Whalen said “with several members of the Board sitting at other political tables, it’s important that we hear from our members about the impacts the COVID19 Pandemic is having in the North”.
The Board reviewed and discussed AMO’s Policy Paper on the “OPP Detachment Boards, Building a Framework for Better Policing Governance.” The Paper notes that Northern Ontario is unique, but the FONOM Board identified several issues with the DSSAB Boards replacing the current Detachments Boards. Community Policing is distinctive to each Municipality, and the current DSSAB’s would not be the best solution for overseeing the Northern OPP Detachments. Several of those issues were;
• The discrepancy between the number of DSSAB Boards to the number of Detachments.
• Representation on some boards, with members of the municipalities with no OPP contracts.
• The concern that this will start a conversation about the creation of Upper Tier or Regional Governments in the North.
The Board will investigate a better approach for the North.
During the meeting the Board appointed Sandra Hollingsworth to the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Nominations and Community Relations Committee and as our representative to the AMO’s Health Task Force. Sandra’s experience working in the Health field will be a benefit for our members.
FONOM is an association of some 110 districts/municipalities/cities/towns in Northeastern Ontario mandated to work for the betterment of municipal government in Northern Ontario and to strive for improved legislation respecting local government in the north. It is a membership-based association that draws its members from northeastern Ontario and is governed by an 11-member board.
President Danny Whalen
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