Northern Ontario small-town mayor says she won't step down as community narrowly avoids shutdown
Township of Fauquier-Strickland accepted $300K in interim funding from the province
The mayor of the small northern Ontario township of Fauquier-Strickland says she has no plans to step down as the community narrowly avoids a municipal shutdown due to a $2.5-million operating deficit.
At a city council meeting on Tuesday, resident Peter Konopelky received applause from others in attendance when he called on Mayor Madeleine Tremblay to resign.
"We are asking you to step down and allow somebody who better understands how to manage [the municipality] and move forward," Konopelky said.
Tremblay, however, said she would finish the rest of her term.
"And I have to tell you that I will do my best," she said.
"It would be a lot better to run, and just quit and not face the music. But I'm not that kind of person. I will fight, I will work hard, and I will do my best to try and find a solution."
At a special council meeting on July 31, Fauquier-Strickland's council accepted $300,000 in interim funding from the province to prevent a shutdown of municipal services.
Earlier that month, Tremblay said the municipality would not be able to afford services like garbage pickup without help from the province or a significant property tax increase of up to 200 per cent.
The temporary provincial funding will now allow the township to maintain garbage collection, keep the dump open, retain its volunteer fire department and continue limited administrative functions with a staff of three.
But Shannon Pawlikowski, Fauquier-Strickland's director of municipal services, said many services will need to be scaled back.
"Services, no matter what, are still going to be bare bones for the foreseeable future."
Tremblay told CBC News in July it was a challenge to keep up with rising costs for services when the municipality only has around 500 people.
She said some projects, such as upgrades to the municipal water filtration system went over budget. That particular project, which happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, cost around $1 million.