SECTION A - BACKGROUND & OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES

In 1998, the province enacted Bill 108 which amended the Provincial Offences Act ("POA") thereby enabling it to transfer various responsibilities of the POA Court system to municipalities across Ontario. Offences governed by the POA are regulatory in nature created pursuant to provincial statutes such as the Highway Traffic Act, the Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act, the Liquor License Act, and the Trespass to Property Act, to name a few. The transfer of POA responsibilities included court support and administration functions, the prosecution of ticketed offences under Part I of the POA (with the more serious charges under Part III continuing to be prosecuted provincially), as well as the collection and enforcement of most fines. Part II matters (also known as parking ticket) and the collections of those tickets are handled by the Parking Enforcement division of the City of Windsor under the administrative penalty system. The POA Transfer did not include criminal matters, which continue to be processed and prosecuted in a court system managed by the province.

The Windsor/Essex Provincial Offences Program ("POA Program") was created as a specialpurpose vehicle to accept the transfer of POA responsibilities from the province. It functions as a self-funding, net revenue positive operating division of the City of Windsor ("City"), having been established for the express purpose of locally implementing the POA Transfer at the regional level.

Although rooted in legislation, the POA Program is essentially governed by a number of contracts, consisting of the following agreements:

 The Transfer Agreement between the City and the province of Ontario as represented by the Ministry of the Attorney General ("MAG"), consisting of 2 contracts, namely a generic Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") and a Local Side Agreement ("LSA"). The Transfer Agreement sets forth the City's responsibilities and duties, inclusive of various guidelines and standards;

 The Intermunicipal Court Service Agreement ("ISA") entered into amongst the City and those other affected municipalities together constituting the Windsor/Essex Court Service Area ("Area"), which encompasses the geographic territory consisting of the City of Windsor, the County of Essex and Pelee Island. It serves as the liaison between the City and the 9 Serviced Municipalities on all matters relating to the operation of the POA Program.

The ISA provided for an initial term of six fiscal years, commencing on March 5, 2001 (the live transfer date) through December 31, 2006. The ISA has been renewed two times since the original agreement each time for a period of 5 years. The current agreement which was renewed in 2016 commenced January 1, 2017 and expires December 31, 2021.

The POA Program historically occupied a leased premises in Suite 300 of the Westcourt Place, located at 251 Goyeau Street, in the City of Windsor. On Tuesday, November 12, 2019 a fire occurred at the Westcourt building which resulted in the building being closed to occupants. The POA division acted quickly and were up and running at a temporary location as quickly as Thursday, November 14, 2019. Courts continued in temporary locations at City Hall including