Mayor says health unit pulled 'bait and switch' over SafePoint funding source, but WECHU board chair says costs were long made clear

Following criticism by some community members over council’s decision to move ahead with a cost assessment of the SafePoint consumption and treatment site, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens says the health unit pulled a “bait and switch” over where funding for the project will come from — but WECHU's board chair says that's completely untrue.

In a narrow 6-5 vote Monday, council approved directing city staff to examine the financial impact, commitments, and potential hazards of the health unit's proposal to open SafePoint at 101 Wyandotte St. E. in the absence of funding from the provincial government.

Those against the motion put forward by Ward 6 councillor Jo-Anne Gignac, including Ward 2 representative and Windsor-Essex County Health Unit board chair Fabio Costante, said the assessment could risk delaying the opening of the site.

Since then, online posts — denouncing the mayor and councillors who supported the cost assessment for the CTS after previously voting against a similar analysis for the mega hospital project — have been circulated and shared by multiple community members and CTS advocates.

Speaking Thursday with CTV News, Dilkens said there’s “no correlation” between the megahospital and CTS projects.

“They’re just two completely different matters which are completely unrelated,” he said.

According to Dilkens, the health unit had originally pitched the CTS as a project that would be fully funded by provincial dollars once the federal government signs off on it.

“This is a bit of a bait and switch. Now, they're coming back and saying, ‘Once we get the federal permit, city taxpayers are now going to pay to run a safe injection site.’ … That is not typical of how the health unit funds their projects.”

Dilkens call the current method of funding the CTS “a big red flag” since, he said, the health unit typically funds its projects through a 70-30 split where the province covers the majority of costs and the rest is paid for by municipalities.

But according to WECHU board chair Fabio Costante, who said council has had ample time to review the costs associated with the CTS, the 70-30 split does not apply to all WECHU projects.

“Some initiatives are fully funded by the Ministry of Health. Others take a 70-30 split. Others are funded through external grants. There's various ways in which initiatives are funded,” said Costante.

There is no reason to believe provincial funding for the SafePoint CTS will not be approved within the next few months, according to Costante. But if the “worst case scenario” were to happen, he said the operational costs for the project would equate to a potential tax increase of less than half of one per cent.

The health unit has previously said it would look to offset that amount through grant opportunities and philanthropic sources of funding.

“If we're comparing what's being asked here versus other initiatives that we find on a regular basis, considering the crisis that we're in with this addiction issue regionwide, I see this, in my view, as a no-brainer that we should be moving forward,” he said.

The health unit is ready to open SafePoint at 101 Wyandotte once federal approval is granted. WECHU has said it has enough money in its budget to support the site until the summer when provincial funding is expected to be granted.

Ward 1 councillor Fred Francis, who supported Gignac’s motion and also sits on the WECHU board of health, said the financial assessment report — which council is expected to receive on Feb. 27 — is not meant to delay the project.

“When the health unit board passes a motion saying that we are going to run the safe injection site even if we don't get provincial funding, I think it's perfectly reasonable to ask … what are the consequences of that? What are the ramifications of that at our budget, because that's not how the current funding model works out,” said Francis.

“To compare that to the hospital is ridiculous, ludicrous and completely misleading. The province is providing 90 per cent of the overall budget to design and build a new hospital.”

Francis said he hopes the cost assessment will eliminate most concerns about the CTS and will actually bolster support for SafePoint at 101 Wyandotte.

“We want to move forward as quickly as possible and we want to mitigate the risk to the city taxpayers as a result,” he said.

“I'm sure there's gonna be some things in the report [presented to council on Feb. 27] that will make some councillors uncomfortable, and make others say, ‘I was uncomfortable, but that explains it.’

For CTS advocate Kamryn Cusumano, she worries a majority of council will use details from the cost assessment to push the project back.

“I don't understand how you could put a price on the health and safety of our community members with such a low price tag,” said Cusumano.

"I don't understand what information has not already been presented to her that she needs to seek out more information for. We already know the figures.”

Gignac's motion was put forward following a "compromise" that was reached earlier this month between the City of Windsor and the WECHU board that would allow SafePoint to open as soon as possible at 101 Wyandotte while a search begins for a new location.

Coun. Jo-Anne Gignac did not respond to a request for comment.