The second Espanola mayoral candidate Moose news is profiling is Jeff Lapierre. One issue Espanola faces is should council build a new fire hall or renovate the existing building. For Lapierre it’s a no brainer and he says the town needs to build new. He says the present building would need so much work to come up to current building code standards that it would cost just as much as a new hall. Lapierre says there are many deficiencies with the old fire hall like it’s not wheelchair accessible and it has only one bathroom which creates a hiring problem. He says because of the single bathroom, the fire hall can’t hire female firefighters under present condition.  Another election issue is an OPP costing study. Lapierre likes the idea if only to put the issue to rest. Lapierre says any OPP costing model would include not only services but a fee-per-call as well and residents need to keep that in mind. Lapierre notes that Baldwin and Nairn, currently patrolled by the OPP, want to know what the Espanola town police would charge them. He says the fact that these two communities are looking at a municipal service should be a wake-up call for residents. He says both communities see an increase in OPP costing coming compared to what they first paid so they’re shopping around for other costs.
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