IGNACE – Bright days are ahead for the community and municipality of Ignace, Kim Baigrie told Dougall Media one week after council made her its full-time mayor.
“We have almost three years to complete now and I'm just looking forward to moving this community forward in a positive direction,” said Baigrie, chosen mayor in a 3-2 council vote Jan. 15 after months as interim mayor, in an interview Monday.
Township council will be “working together (and) listening to the community – what their concerns are, what their voices are – and moving forward from there,” she said.
A key part of the township’s to-do list for 2024 is deciding whether it truly wants to host the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s deep geological repository (DGR), a proposed underground facility for the long-term storage and management of spent fuel from Canadian nuclear reactors.
The Ignace-Wabigoon Lake area is one of two finalists for siting the DGR, the other finalist being in the South Bruce area of southern Ontario. Site selection is slated for late this year, and community willingness is a key criterion for selection.
Ignace has a “willingness process” underway regarding the DGR. The process includes a study being conducted by With Chela Inc., an eastern Ontario-based consulting firm contracted by the township to gauge Ignace residents’ support for the DGR project. The firm’s “engagement team” will be in Ignace to connect with community members, With Chela owner Chela Breckon said Friday.
As a municipality on the DGR shortlist, Ignace has been receiving millions of dollars in recent years from the NWMO for capital spending and projects.
Last year $1.7 million in NWMO money was spent on a $779,000 fire truck, a 3D printer for the Ignace Public Library, new playground equipment and many other items that Baigrie termed “key components of our community and our overall well-being.”
Baigrie said this year’s funding from the Near-Term Investment Fund and Community Well-Being Fund will be in the same amount.
Township council hasn’t decided what it would like to see purchased this year, she said, but “I know we probably need a new machine.”
“Our assets are aging and we are going to have to update some machines, I believe, in public works,” she said.
Another part of the willingness process, the Willingness Committee or Ignace Community Nuclear Liaison Committee, had its activities suspended by council on Jan. 4.
Baigrie said the township wants to be sure there are sufficient “guidelines to support the Willingness Committee.”
They also want to add three new members to the committee and give all members training, she said.
