WINDSOR, ONT. -- Leamington council is taking the next step and has agreed to hire MPM Consulting to help them find a new police force.

“Now we are at the point of needing a professional to help us through the RFP request for proposal process so that we can design what we are looking for and that makes it easier for police services to see if they want to engage with us or not,” said Leamington Mayor Hilda MacDonald. “If it’s too difficult, if the requirements are too much they may say, they may just pass.

Last month, the town decided not to renew its contract with Essex County OPP.

MacDonald tells CTV News among the motivations were cost, lack of coverage information and a lack of police presence.

She also adds Leamington residents want a higher level of policing.

“When we as council and residents are saying we need more officers on the street and your higher level, living nowhere and working nowhere near here say ‘no you don’t need that’, that is problematic,” MacDonald said. “So we need to find better coverage and more coverage. We have not had issues with the officers, but we need more of the same and we need a service that says okay we will provide you with more of the same.”

According to the report, a three-phase approach was submitted by MPM Consulting starting with work on a request for proposal to see what options the town has available.

The first phase creates and sends out the request for proposal at a cost of $19,000.

The second phase costs $13,000 and will help council to decide which candidate to choose.

Phase three will cost $6,000 to draw up a service agreement contract, if they choose to hire a new police force.

“We’ll see who rises to the opportunity because I think it’s a really great opportunity for another police service to expand. It's an opportunity for other communities in the region to look at regional policing as well. There are opportunities for all of us,” said MacDonald.

The mayor hopes to have the process completed by 2021 and encourages all police forces the opportunity to expand.

“The OPP may very well put in a request, put in a quote and that would be great,” MacDonald said. “But it will be on our terms and it will be on a contract that is unique to Leamington and up until now they have not been willing to do that.”