Police force gets $221,000 bill from lawyers

Cornwall Standard Freeholder

Thursday, April 05, 2007 - 10:00

Local News - CORNWALL (Staff)

The city is a quarter of a million dollars closer to its goal of spending $3.2 million on the Cornwall Public Inquiry.

An invoice presented to the Cornwall Community Police Services board Wednesday shows the Toronto-based law firm of Gowling Lafleur Henderson billed the city force $221,410.57 for the month of February. The amount is part of the expected $3.2 million to be covered by the province for inquiry-related expenses incurred by the force and the city since the inquiry began in the fall of 2005.

The bill is not unusual in that the fees are "fairly typical" of those incurred during months when the work of the CCPS is being examined at the inquiry, said Deputy Chief Aikman.

He said the amount was expected and is "nothing out of the ordinary."

The province has agreed to pay the costs incurred by the city related to the inquiry through March 31, 2007. The inquiry is expected to go on for at least another year. There's been no further financial commitment on the part of the province in relation to future inquiry-related expenses.