Mayor will address city-county shared service kerfuffle

In this April 2015, file photo, Cornwall Mayor Leslie O'Shaughnessy addresses the crowd at an event at the Cornwall Community Hospital. O'Shaughnessy says he will address the issue next week of shared services between the city and the county. (Newswatch Group/Bill Kingston, File)

CORNWALL – City Mayor Leslie O’Shaughnessy will address the posturing by the United Counties over coming up with a new shared services agreement.

O’Shaughnessy has indicated to Cornwall Newswatch that he will be releasing a statement on Monday.

The county put out a news release four days ago (March 6), signed by all the mayors and deputy mayors, accusing the city of holding up the process.

The United Counties blame the city for stalling, suggesting Cornwall does not want a dispute resolution clause in the deal.

The city delivers land ambulance, social services and child care to SD&G and bills the county for those services. In 2016, it was over $7 million.

Both sides have been working on updating their agreements, some of which are outdated.

The county said it lived up to “transparency and fairness” when it signed a new deal on Provincial Offences services (traffic and citation court) which included a “robust dispute resolution clause.” The county oversees POA operations and bills the city for the service.

In December, the county passed the shared services agreement in principle and indicated that it forwarded the agreement to the city for approval.