Jail here won’t close in 2004

Mayor Glenn Witherspoon brought some good news back with him from a trip to Toronto last week–the Fort Frances Jail won’t be closing next May as the Ministry of Correctional Services originally announced back in May, 2000.
“The date for closure has been pushed back indefinitely,” Mayor Witherspoon said Monday. “As to what extent they’ll extend the life of the jail further on down the road, I don’t know.”
The mayor noted he learned this after meeting with Al Williams, an assistant to Public Safety and Security minister Bob Runciman. And while he found out few other details, this news definitely was good.
“When its fate was unknown, some of those working at the jail started looking for employment elsewhere,” he remarked. “This news will give them some stability.”
“It’s certainly a relief. Everyone is kind of concerned about the closure,” said Ian Booth, superintendent of the Fort Frances Jail, adding one employee has left since the closure announcement.
“The way we look at it, we still have until 2004. Nobody’s acting quickly, but they’re keeping their eyes open,” he noted.
But details as to the reason behind the closure deadline extension aren’t clear it this time. As well, the prospect of landing a facility for young offenders here may not be so bright, said Mayor Witherspoon.
“[Williams] couldn’t give me a positive response when I asked him about it,” he remarked. “There will be one built, [but] he couldn’t say where it would end up being built.
“This means we have to really work hard to lobby the ministry and let them know the importance of having this facility [here],” the mayor stressed. “We can’t stop now.”
Getting the proposed youth facility built locally has been a co-operative effort of the town, Couchiching First Nation, and Pwi-Di-Goo-Zing Ne-Yaa-Zhing Advisory Services.
  The proposed 75- to 100-bed medium-security facility would be built along Highway 11 just east of the Couchiching Bingo Palace. A team scouting out sites for the ministry reportedly was in the area last October.
The bid received ringing endorsements from at least six other area First Nations communities, the OPP, the Fort Frances Chiefs Secretariat, the Rainy River Future Development Corp., and the Seven Generations Education Institute, among others, in September, 2001 when a proposal first was submitted to the ministry.
Also at Monday night’s meeting, council approved a report confirming Calvin Muckle as the sponsor of a new “big chair” at Pither’s Point and North American Lumber as sponsor of a mermaid sculpture along the riverfront.
The report also noted only two people have stepped forward to donate trees to be planted along Phase I of La Verendrye Parkway, with 13 more still needed.
Hammond’s Nursery most recently quoted a price of $300 per tree ($100 less than the original estimate).
Also Monday night, council:
•authorized the posting of the results of responses to a town employee satisfaction survey on all bulletin boards at municipal buildings;
•agreed to support the option to combine the payments of the participating Northwestern Ontario Recycle Association and apply it directly towards the stranded debt left behind when NORA dissolved last year;
•directed a request for support from the Township of Northern Algoma-Wilberforce of a resolution regarding nutrient management to the Rainy River District Municipal Association for its approval;
•agreed to support an OPSEU resolution to assure high-quality property assessment from the Municipal Property Assessment Corp.’s “Futures” restructuring program;
•authorized the “Bronze” table sponsorship for the Riverside Foundation for Health Care’s fundraiser dinner Feb. 22 (this amounts to $500 out of the council’s public relations expense);
•authorized the purchase of a half page ad in the Fort Frances High School 2003 yearbook at a cost of $100 as a council public relations expense; and
•tabled a request for support from the Municipality of Niagara for its resolution regarding councillor remuneration (this was on the grounds it was “contrary to the general principle of consistency of remuneration for all members of council,” Administration and Finance manager Darryl Allan said in a report).