Size of city council, police headquarters top Thunder Bay city hall agenda

A plan to either renovate the Thunder Bay Police Service headquarters on Balmoral Street, or build a new facility, got a little more complex.

City councillors will hear on Monday eight different options for police - ranging in cost from $50 millionto $62.6 million.

In March, Police Chief Sylvie Hauth outlined to council two options for police headquarters - renovate the existing facility, or build new. The number of staff employed at the service hasincreased by over 35 per cent in the past three decades, Hauth said in a memo to city council.

The current headquarters, at 1200 BalmoralStreet, was originally built in 1987, with a second storey added in 1992, as the service had expanded.

The current facility is too small, and requires upgrades that are "typical" of a 33 year-old building, the memo stated.

Council balked at having only two options presented to it in March - telling Hauth it wanted options to move police into neighbourhoods. While that option was not a preferred one for police, the service did get its consultants for the project to provide new options for council, to move offices into the north and south cores.

Options now available to council include having one main headquarters - at an undetermined location, although maps provided in the report suggest Innova Park as a potential location, and then smaller buildings in the north and south cores. The south core location could be at Miles St. and North St.

Those additional buildings would house items like the community services division, the quartermaster and exhibits storage. In other options, the building would be dedicated to serving as a base for some of the uniform patrol members.

Other options include using the secondary facility for a firing range, training, intelligence unit and specialized operations. Some of the scenarios would have officers stationed at the building 24/7, and in others, it would be staffed during business hours only.

The lowest cost option, at about $50 million, would be constructing anew centralized police headquarters. The most expensive option, at $62.6 million, is to renovate the existing headquarters, and have two satellite offices in the north and south cores.

The objective, though, of having 'boots on the ground' with offices in the north and south cores are still not fully achieved with any of the plans.

"Research does not establish an evidencebased case either for or against the crime prevention benefit of a police facility in high crime areas," the report noted, adding any economic benefit to the neighbourhood would be dependent on the number of people working at the downtown locations.

The report saidthe biggest location advantage, from a policing perspective, is proximity to the hospital. Officers can be sent to the hospital multiple times per shift, and a closer location would provide the most benefit.

The consulting report also allows police to build a separate location, and use the Balmoral Street headquarters for another 10 years, before building out again. Using the two-step build out would add an additional $22 millionin costs, although it would have a much lower initial cost.

Council composition

Council will also consider a report from the city clerk's office, on how to proceed with studying the composition of council.

Thunder Bay currently has five at-large councillors and seven ward councillors along with the mayor. That system has been in place since 1985. Previously, council had only ward councillors since the city was created in 1970.

Thunder Bay is the only city in Ontario to have a hybrid system of ward and at-large councillors. Only two cities, North Bay and Cornwall,have an at-large only council.

Two years ago, Sault Ste. Marie decreased its number of councillors by two, and also redrew some of its ward boundaries to accommodate the change.

If council approves the study, the clerk's office would start the work in 2023, after the next municipal election.

It's anticipated any suggested changes, which could reduce the number of councillors or change ward boundaries, would be in effect for the 2026 election.