THUNDER BAY — A former two-term councillor in Oliver Paipoonge is lashing out against the current mayor and council for exploring a merger with the Township of Conmee.
Rick Potter says "Every taxpayer in Oliver Paipoonge is being compromised...There is not one person in Oliver Paipoonge who is going to benefit. All that's going to happen is our taxes are going to go sky-high."
Mayor Lucy Kloosterhuis says council has not made a decision yet, but she has "seen this coming for a long time."
The councils of Oliver Paipoonge and Conmee announced in June that they had decided to investigate how a merger might enable them to save costs.
The accounting firm of Grant Thornton is preparing a report.
"They're not going to recommend anything. They're just going to give us all the facts, and then it will be up to council to decide if they want to go through with the merger," Kloosterhuis said in an interview Wednesday.
Potter, however accused Kloosterhuis and three councillors of "acting in a quasi-illegal and perhaps immoral way."
"The problem with this whole exercise is it's farcical and there's very little information. Or if there is information, it's not being given to the public," he said.
Potter initially filed nomination papers for mayor in 2018, but withdrew from the race later, citing work commitments. He denies his opposition to the merger is politically motivated.
He alleges that Conmee is in poor financial shape, saying "it's not up to the people of Oliver Paipoonge to bail them out."
Conmee Mayor Kevin Holland denied Wednesday that his community is in a bad financial situation, saying its debt is actually below-average.
Potter wants Oliver Paipoonge council to postpone the project and hold a plebiscite, suggesting to Kloosterhuis "If it's that strong an issue, run your next election on it and see if you get re-elected."
Conmee is the much smaller of the two communities with a population of barely 800, compared with Oliver Paipoonge's 6,000 residents.
Oliver Paipoonge administrative staff have already been assisting Conmee with administrative duties.
Kloosterhuis said some misinformation has been circulating about the level of Conmee's debt.
"We've got exaggerated stories out there, which is unfortunate...But the number one topic I've spoken to with everyone on the phone and personally is they do not want their taxes to go up."
She said Grant Thornton "is scrutinizing all the numbers" for their report.
That report is expected to be made public in a few weeks.
Kloosterhuis said small rural municipalities all over Ontario are finding that provincial government policies and procedures are almost forcing them "to the point they cannot function."
She said even though she has felt for awhile that amalgamation involving some rural Thunder Bay townships was inevitable, Conmee and Oliver Paipoonge "wasn't at the top of my list."
Oliver Paipoonge was created by the merger of the townships of Oliver and Paipoonge in 1998.
Kloosterhuis said "it all came out for the best," adding that a voluntary union is far preferable to the province saying "thou shalt" merge, because in that situation there is no longer any bargaining power.
"Looking at this voluntarily gives us the opportunity to look at all the facts," she said.
Potter, however, said he is convinced that residents of Oliver Paipoonge will end up paying higher property taxes because of what he calls "this folly."
He charges that the study and the community consultation process are badly flawed, and that there is a "forced" timeline.
