The two districts of Langley City in Greater Vancouver Cost of policing The matter will never go to court after one municipality handed another a huge check on Tuesday.
on Monday, Langley Threatened the City of Langley with a lawsuit if the city did not pay its share of the $2.7 million in funding for 2023. Royal Canadian Mounted Police There is a separation between the two communities.
Langley Township Mayor Eric Woodward said the town made the payment after receiving its third demand letter in as many months.
The mayor of Langley said city council was already in the process of approving the payment when the town made the legal threat.
The dispute stems from a disagreement between the two cities over the future of policing.
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Langley Township Begins disbanding of the Joint DetachmentThe police service agreement between the two places expired in 2022 and has not yet been renewed.
Langley Mayor Nathan Pachal said his city government is unwilling to hand over a cheque without a written service agreement.
“I think the idea of just paying money without knowing what it’s for is not a very good one,” he told Global News. “I think our request is very, very basic: continue doing what we’ve been doing for the last few decades.”
Woodward doesn't see it that way, saying it's unacceptable for the City of Langley to refuse to pay in order to “take advantage” of the town.
“I think it's the collective bargaining agreement that we have with CUPE or the firefighters; once that expires, it could take a few years to get a new agreement,” he said.
“We don't stop paying workers when collective bargaining agreements expire. I think the same thing applies here.”
He added that the town’s legal team has determined that the city acted in “bad faith.”
The row led to tensions between the two communities.
Pachar said tensions have been rising in Langley Township since the town voted to begin exploring the splitting of the RCMP detachment in 2022.
Woodward said the two cities have many major initiatives to work on together, including future skytrain and bus rapid transit projects, and the goal now is to look to the future.
“If someone isn’t paying you for millions of dollars of services that you provided in good faith, I think that puts some strain on the relationship,” he said.
“But ultimately, we’ll move on to other issues and we’ll be working with them on a number of things … We look forward to continuing to move forward in a positive way with the City of Langley.”
However, this forward-looking approach may take longer.
Woodward said the city's payment for policing does not include interest on the four months of withholding, and the town intends to collect that money from neighbors.
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