North Cowichan is launching the Alternative Approval Process this month to borrow 48-Million dollars for the construction of a new RCMP detachment.
North Cowichan residents planning to participate in the process must obtain and complete an Elector Response Form and submit it to the municipality between June 12th and July 14th
An Eligible Elector is a homeowner or renter eligible to vote in municipal elections.
North Cowichan Mayor Al Siebring says the Alternative Approval Process is a faster and less expensive choice.
Siebring says a referendum is considerably more expensive, estimating the costs between 50 and 100-thousand dollars.
If 10-percent or more reject the plan, Siebring says the policing contract with the municipality allows the RCMP to proceed on its own with the construction of a new detachment.
“If we don’t build an RCMP detachment building for the RCMP, the contract says they’ll build it themselves and just send us the invoice, and I can guarantee you that a project that’s managed out of Ottawa is going to be more expensive than a project that’s managed two miles up the road in North Cowichan.”
The present RCMP detachment was built in the 1980s and is now to small and outdated.
Siebring says, “we are sending information to every elector in North Cowichan.”
He says if the borrowing proposal is rejected, North Cowichan council could “go to a referendum or cancel the project.”
