Town looks to stretch boundaries

The Town of Fort Frances agreed to include the landfill site in Alberton in a proposal to acquire land with a restructuring of boundaries.
Municipal Affairs and Housing rep Kevin Desrosiers suggested adding the landfill site when he attended Monday night’s council meeting to explain available options regarding the restructuring of the town’s boundaries near the Fort Frances Airport.
“The reason I’m here is to discuss some boundary restructuring in your municipality,” he noted. “You have two different ways you can restructure.”
The town already had decided to approach the unincorporated area of Miscampbell to include a piece of land owned by Fort Frances within town boundaries.
The land was bought by Fort Frances for use as a road to the airport.
“The rational for that is that we are paying taxes to the township of Miscampbell yet we maintain the road,” said CAO Bill Naturkach.
“We’re paying taxes for a service that we don’t get.”
Desrosiers suggested the town include the landfill site located in Alberton in the restructuring proposal in order to simplify the process. A portion of land there also is owned by Fort Frances in a similar situation as at the airport.
Desrosiers noted that under Bill 26, a double majority would have to be reached in order to go ahead with the restructuring. Two of the three townships of Alberton, Fort Frances, and Miscampbell would have to approve the change representing the majority of electors.
The town would like to change the boundaries before any amalgamation takes place in surrounding municipalities, making negotiations more difficult.
“It’s just good housekeeping on our part,” said Mayor Glenn Witherspoon.
The second option is to request a commission.
“My recommendation is that you go with Bill 26,” suggested Desrosiers. “We all know what happens with restructuring commissions . . . usually the area commissioned is a greater area.”
If the proposal does not reach a double majority, a commission would remain a possibility.
“This would be a double-edged sword,” said Mayor Witherspoon.
An amendment to improve the landfill site was approved on the spot. “We’ll now submit and prepare a restructuring agreement,” said Naturkach.