THUNDER BAY — The Thunder Bay Police Services Board is starting to take shape once again with two new members officially being sworn in but it remains unclear when they will receive voting rights again.
Denise Baxter and Karen Machado were sworn in as members of the Thunder Bay Police Services Board during its monthly meeting on Tuesday. Baxter fulfills the municipal appointment while Machado is one of two provincial appointments.
Baxter and Machado join city council representative members Ken Boshcoff and Shelby Ch’ng on the board. A second provincial appointment is yet to be made.
The new appointments come after previous members of the Police Services Board resigned following the Ontario Civilian Police Commission appointing administrator Malcom Mercer to the board in April 2022 for a period of six months.
The OCPC said at the time there was an “emergency” in the board’s oversight of the Thunder Bay Police Service and that it was not able to work effectively as a board. As administrator, Mercer was granted sole voting rights on the board.
This was the second time an administrator was appointed to oversee the Thunder Bay Police Services Board within the last five years.
In October 2022, the OCPC extended Mercer’s appointment by six months to the end of March 2023.
On Tuesday, Mercer said he was not able to provide a response as to whether or not his role as administrator will be extended again because it is not his decision to make.
“The Ontario Civilian Police Commission will have to decide what to do,” he said. “My current appointment ends at the end of March and it remains to be seen what will happen.”
Mercer did say he is pleased to see new additions to the board but added further training is required for members.
“The board has been a four-person board out of five for its very first meeting,” he said on Tuesday. “It will take training and experience for the board to be fully functional. It becomes a question of judgment on whether I should cease to be the sole voting member and things to change.”
Governance, cultural awareness, and accountability training sessions are being arranged for board members in March and early April.
