The Mayor of the Municipality of Brockton said the Walkerton Jail will reopen after being closed for 15 years.
Mayor Chris Peabody relayed a commitment the Municipality and Bruce County received from Solicitor General Michael Kerzner at the recent ROMA Conference.
Peabody said the province was looking to build another jail in midwestern Ontario, but it was ultimately determined that Walkerton could be reopened for a fraction of the cost.
"The Solicitor General has been to the Walkerton Jail in the summer, and he does have a plan to reopen it," said Peabody. "He told us that he was definitely going ahead with the plan and he believed, after studying the issue, that they could reopen the Walkerton Jail for one-sixth the cost of doing a new build."
The reopening of the jail will mean much lower prisoner transportation costs for the Municipality, which Peabody said was slated to cost around $400,000 annually.
"This is just great news for Brockton, it's going to save us a lot of money on prisoner transportation costs," he said. "(Bruce) County has helped us out with that, so it's great news for the whole County."
The jail was built in 1866 and closed in 2011. Peabody said it has space for about 60 people, but will need significant renovations. The jail is owned by Bruce County, but Peabody said ownership would need to be transferred to the province for the project to go ahead.
The meeting with the Solicitor General was actually a joint delegation with Attorney General Doug Downey. During that meeting, the Municipality received more good news about efforts to keep courthouse security costs in check.
Peabody said they were told money has been set aside to refurbish the Walkerton Courthouse.
"We had been asking for a new build, but given the constraints on (Downey's) department, he's committing $5-million for a renovation," said the Mayor.
The renovation will see the Courthouse, which was built around the same time as the jail, reduced to one entry point. Peabody said that will help cut the court security costs the Municipality pays to the OPP.
