Dokis Road
Dokis Road Construction
Construction and upgrading to the section of road assumed by West Nipissing has commenced.
Grant Hobson reports in the November 2011 UFRCA newsletter:
Those of you who travelled the Dokis Road in the early fall have noticed the activity starting on the road improvements. The Town of West Nipissing has been given some government assistance and now has contractors adding gravel, installing culverts and re-grading the road. These improvements shall benefit all of us that use the road as well as the people of Dokis First Nation.
Municipal Response - June 15, 2011
This note was recently sent to our attention from Guy Fortier (our Ward 8 Councillor) in response to our repeated communications to the municipality to take action on maintaining and upgrading the Dokis Road.
“At our regular council meeting held in North Monetville last night it was announced by the Municipality that we have reached an agreement with the Provincial Government for them to bring their section of the Dokis Rd up to current standards. At which point the municipality will be assuming the road and it will become part of our inventory and we the municipality will take over the maintenance of road from the Dokis Reserve while they will continue to maintain the portion of the road that falls on reserve property.”
Guy Fortier, Lavigne Tavern, 705 594 2301
Letter To West Nipissing About The Dokis Road
The following letter was the result of a long series of communicatons regarding the Dokis Road. It has been the subject of much discussion at Board meetings and Annual General Meetings over the years.
977 Lake Nosbonsing Road
Astorville ON P0H 1B0
Jay Barbeau, C.A.O.
Municipality of West Nipissing
225 Holditch Street, Suite 101
Sturgeon Falls, Ontario P2B1T1
April 18, 2011
Dear Jay,
Paul Cormier brought your letter regarding the Dokis Road to a recent UFRCA Board of Directors meeting and we have the following thoughts.
While we recognize the complexities of budgeting for road maintenance and working out arrangements with Dokis First Nation and the Province of Ontario, we fail to understand how that should affect maintaining the Dokis Road to a standard that is expected throughout the entire municipality. When West Nipissing assumed ownership of Bertram Township and the other unorganized townships, the new municipality increased our taxes dramatically but we have received little in the way of service in return. We feel that proper maintenance of the road is one of the few services that can actually be provided to taxpayers in Bertram Township and members of the Upper French River Cottagers’ Association.
It is our opinion that the arrangement that existed before amalgamation is of no consequence. When West Nipissing agreed to accept our taxes, it thereby agreed to take on the responsibility of providing maintenance of the Dokis Road. We believe it is West Nipissing’s responsibility to maintain the Dokis Road at the same level it maintains all of the roads in the municipality. If West Nipissing can make an arrangement with the Province or Dokis to recoup some of the costs, then we certainly encourage and support that process. But we simply expect the Dokis Road to be properly maintained by using some of the tax dollars we provide.
We look forward to West Nipissing honouring its commitment to maintain that part of the Dokis Road that lies within West Nipissing’s jurisdiction.
Sincerely,
Dave Minden
President - UFRCA