Barrie city council has voted to bring in a mediator to help resolve a dispute with the Simcoe County District School Board over where a long-awaited new high school should be built.
Councillor Mike McCann gave an emotional speech on Monday about his desire to reach out to the board with an independent mediator to help decide where the new high school should be built in south Barrie.
The city wants the new school to be constructed near a major intersection, while the board has insisted the school would be better suited in a planned sub-division.
Mayor Jeff Lehman says concessions by both parties might have to take place to ultimately get the school built.
“What will happen now is our staff will send a letter to the board. If they agree to discuss the process, they could sit down together and come up with that,” Lehman says. “I would hope that would be a matter of a few weeks. The idea would be is that it could start early in the new year.”
To date, one of the only things both the board and council have agreed upon is that the students will suffer the greatest loss if this impasse isn't settled soon.
The earliest the school could be open is the fall of 2018, which is already two years beyond the original schedule.
