Bridge sale still in the works

FORT FRANCES—Town council passed a bylaw Monday night to approve an agreement with Boise Cascade L.L.C. to provide for non-disclosure of proprietary information pertaining to the privately-owned international bridge spanning the Rainy River here.
Mayor Dan Onichuk said after the meeting this is a preliminary step that’s necessary to take in order to get financial information on the bridge from its owners—and for the town to proceed with any talks regarding possible future ownership.
Mayor Onichuk noted there will be a meeting of representatives from both sides of the border next Wednesday (Oct. 4) over in International Falls.
“That meeting will be to further our position, to take another stab at it, and to formally put something together for the state, province, and federal government,” he remarked.
The mayor noted the bridge has been up for sale for some time now.
While U.S.-based Watco Companies Inc. was interested in ownership of the Minnesota, Dakota and Western Railway and its portion of the international bridge, that deal ended up falling through.
“They only wanted the rail bridge. They still were working with us to see the traffic bridge got put into public hands,” Mayor Onichuk remarked. “So that was a move in the right direction, and they were working with us.
“But now they’re out of it. I’m don’t know the specific reasons.”
(The Falls Daily Journal reported earlier this month that the deal fell through because “conditions for the sale the companies reached in July were not met within the time frame specified under the purchase agreement.”)
Mayor Onichuk also said he got a chance to speak with the provincial Municipal Affairs and Housing minister John Gerretsen about the bridge at the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association’s annual meeting last week in Thunder Bay.
And he ensured that he’d talk to Intergovernmental Affairs minister Dr. Marie Bountrogianni, who Transportation minister Donna Cansfield previously had said would work on the town’s behalf in regards to the bridge issue.
“Hopefully, we’ll have an update through that prior to our meeting on Oct. 4 and we can share that with our counterparts in the Falls,” Mayor Onichuk said.
(Fort Frances Times)