IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: A version of article was originally published by ThoroldToday on November 24.
Thorold City Councillors are worried that local taxpayers are being taken advantage of.
The culprit is the multi-use path along the south side of Sir Isaac Brock Way and St. David’s Road.
The path was built and financed by four parties: the Ministry of Transportation (MTO), the Niagara Region, the City of St. Catharines and the City of Thorold.
But when it comes to maintenance and repair costs, the agreement puts the onus on Thorold, and that’s where councillors take issue.
“It’s a multi-million dollar path,” said Councillor Anthony Longo, during Tuesday’s city council meeting. “My concern is by doing this we are on the hook to maintain and repair this path when it needs to be redone. We’re on the hook for a large sum of money.”
Because a new part of the pathway was recently constructed, council has to resign the maintenance agreement with the Niagara Region.
The City’s Director of Community Services, Geoff Holman, was on hand at Tuesday's meeting to answer questions.
“This was a decision that was made by the council of the day,” he explained. “With financial assistance it would be built and the city would assume the maintenance and the perpetual responsibility for it.”
While Councillors Longo, Jim Handley, and Carmen DeRose were against the proposal for the pathway when it first came before council, they were outvoted at the time.
Councillor Ken Sentance, who helped pass the proposal for the multi-use pathway, explained why he voted for the initial agreement.
“It’s our path, it’s in Thorold — I see all Thorold people using it,” he said. “That’s why I think we should be maintaining it. [But] I’m not opposed to going back to our partners.”
Newer council members did not seem impressed with the agreement either.
“It sounds like a bad deal again,” said Councillor Henry D’Angela. “We should have gotten one of the Canada Summer Games deals where everyone chips in and at 20 years it gets rebuilt by all four partners. Here it falls on Thorold’s hands.”
Councillor Jim Handley proposed blowing up the agreement entirely.
“The taxpayers of Thorold have enough burden with taking care of regional facilities,” he said. “It’s time that we take care of our own needs. I want to back out of the deal.”
Councillor Longo reiterated that he does not mind if the city foots the bill for snow removal and sweeping.
“My issue is the repair and maintenance and possible replacement,” he said. "If we discussed it with [our partners] and we agreed to something I would be happy."
In the end, Councillors voted unanimously to have City Hall staff go back to the negotiating table, to come up with a better deal for Thorold.
