Armour Township Mayor Rod Ward says the decision by the Village of Burk’s Falls to withdraw from Almaguin Community Economic Development is the straw that broke the camel’s back.
At its January 14, 2025, meeting, the Township of Armour Council agreed to provide notice of its intention to withdraw from both the tri-council library agreement (as of January 14, 2026) and the tri-council shared services agreement for area landfill and fire services (as of December 31, 2027).
The tri-council is comprised of representatives from the Village of Burk’s Falls, the Township of Armour, and the Township of Ryerson. The three councils meet regularly to discuss and approve shared services and assets.
“The challenge we’ve had with Burk’s Falls, in particular, is that there are a number of things that we’ve been trying to do to move things along, and since we’re tied in with them with this current agreement, we haven’t been able to move things along.”
Ward said Burk’s Falls is more insular, while Armour is looking at a more regional approach. “The most recent example is that they have given notice that they’re pulling out of economic development, which is something that the other municipalities in the Almaguin Highlands have been involved with for many years. There’s been a lot of work done to have a regional economic development approach, but Burk’s Falls, this latest thing is that they’ve decided to pull out of that,” said Ward, noting that that was the last straw.
Ward said ten municipalities are involved in the Almaguin Highlands Health Council and fire services have been working well across the region. “So we want to build on those partnerships with the ten or 12 municipalities up here, and if Burk’s Falls changes their approach, we certainly want them to be part of it, but right now it’s just making things more difficult, rather than being cooperative.”
Ward said the discussions are ongoing. “We wanted to give plenty of notice because, well, there’s a third partner, Ryerson, that we didn’t want to impact, but unfortunately, they’re also part of it. We’ve had discussions with them to let them know it has nothing to do with them. We’ll continue to partner with them in any way we can,” said Ward. “We want to take a bigger picture view because we think that’s going to be more successful for the region, long-term.”
The Township of Armour issued a release about its intentions, which is posted on its website.
“Of utmost importance at this point is the assurance that our intent is not to disrupt service levels while we work toward new partnerships and approaches which better align with the future of the Almaguin Highlands,” states the release. You can find it HERE.
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