More conversations on the proposed Consumption and Treatment Services site.
During Monday afternoon's meeting, Windsor city councillor Jo-Anne Gignac has asked that administration report back to council prior to the 2023 Budget Deliberations, regarding more information of the CTS site located at 101 Wyandotte Street East.
In a 6-5 vote, it was approved that administration will look at factors such as the financial implications, obligations, and risks associated with the opening of a CTS site without funding from the government of Ontario or the government of Canada.
The CTS site location on Wyandotte was approved by the previous council. However, current ward 3 councillor, Renaldo Agostino wants a different location for the site, and the Windsor Essex County Health Unit Board has approved a new committee tasked with finding a new spot, which councillor Agostino will lead.
Ward 2 councillor and chair of the WECHU Board, Fabio Costante, says this delay is a dangerous move.
"This is going to hurt the application in my view, and I think this is a really dangerous move forward. The municipality's role is to either endorse the site, or not endorse the site. It's not to get into the weeds on this. Now, I do respect councillor Gignac's position, and certainly there's opportunities to ask the heath unit how they're funding this, but if we're going to delay this to budget time, we're delaying the application to the Ministry of Health."
Councillor Gignac says she wants to hear from administration on the financial aspects.
"I want to know what I'm voting for on the financial end, and that's not here for me. So, that's why the motion is here, I want to hear from administration, I want them to have discussions with the health unit, and to come back to council and lay it out for us so that all of the city residents know exactly what we're getting into."
The health unit usually covers 70 per cent of costs, with funding from the provincial government, while the city itself covers 30 per cent.
Windsor mayor, Drew Dilkens, says he doesn't know what the costs for the site are since the province hasn't provided any funding.
"I have no idea what it costs to operate a safe injection site, and I have no idea what it costs the tax payers of the city to fund our share. Presumably, it's not the 70/30 model that would be normal at the health unit, because 70 would be provincial funding. So, the province hasn't provided funding to operate the site, it must be downloaded 100 per cent to municipal tax payers, split between city and county, but I don't even know that."
The report is expected to be brought back to council during the February 27 meeting if possible.
Those in favour of gathering more information were Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens, Ward 1 councillor Fred Francis, Ward 4 councillor Mark McKenzie, Ward 5 councillor Ed Sleiman, Ward 6 councillor Jo-Anne Gignac and Ward 8 councillor Gary Kaschak.
Those in opposition were Ward 2 councillor Fabio Costante, Ward 3 councillor Renaldo Agostino, Ward 7 councillor Angelo Marignani, Ward 9 councillor Kieran McKenzie, and Ward 10 councillor Jim Morrison.
The CTS site is expected to open in March, and will be open to the public until a new location is approved.
So far, $775,000 has been spent on the current site.