Councillors here are looking for answers after being told the OPP?will not be administering Wellington County’s taxi bylaw.
Wellington North council received that information on Jan. 18 from Wellington County Police Services Board (PSB) secretery Scott Wilson, who said the board was advised by Western Region Command “that the OPP?will no longer be able to administer the taxi bylaw.”
Wilson added, “The OPP?will continue to assist in the enforcement of this bylaw for all member municipalities.”
That leaves five local municipalities, who decided last year to delegate that authority to Wellington County and the OPP in a bit of a bind.
Wellignton North Mayor Mike Broomhead said clerk Lori Heinbuch recieved the correspondence that morning, and he personally spoke with Police Services Board?chairman Lynda White that day.
“We need to rectify this because we have a written agreement in place to not only enforce this bylaw, but to administer it,” said Broomhead.
The administration of the bylaw would including licence applications, police checks, and other paperwork.
Heinbuch said Mapleton and Centre Wellington Townships have also been in contact with county officials. She pointed out there are five municipalities involved in the county-wide bylaw.
Heinbuch said a meeting will be held shortly to consider how the county is going to be administering the bylaw.
Broomhead later stated his understanding is that OPP?Inspector Scott Smith was told by the Western Region Police Association that they did not mind enforcing the bylaw, but are not in a position to administer it.However, the bylaw was already passed and endorsed by five of the seven lower-tier municipalities.
“We have a signed written agreement but now we’ve been told the OPP?will enforce, but not administer the bylaw,” said Broomhead. “I think we need clarification.”
He explained it is his impression the OPP would administer the bylaw “and now we’re being told otherwise.”
Broomhead said Wellington North is not the only municipality to have shown concerns, adding that it seems something has fallen through the cracks.
“Hopefully we get this resolved,” he said, adding he wanted council to be aware of the situation.
When asked who is administering the bylaw now, the response was uncertain.
Heinbuch said the OPP?was supposed to begin administering the bylaw as of Jan. 1, “Therefore no licences for taxis or drivers have been issued.”
Currently, anyone coming to the municipality even wanting to apply for a licence would be out of luck.
“We are supposed to refer them to the OPP; that’s the last word we had,” said Heinbuch. She hopes the problem will be fixed shortly and the county will be able to administer the bylaw.
Broomhead said the police board is trying to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
“The problem we also have is that the bylaw that was passed, is a county-wide bylaw which delagates the authority to the county,” said Heinbuch. “So even if we wanted to right now, we couldn’t issue a licence.”
