It appears the mayor does not want to lay any blame for the legal costs incurred in the James Street Bridge saga.
Even though the City of Thunder Bay eventually won, it was forced to pay $1.6 million of the total $1.9 million cost with CN Rail having to pay the remainder.
Bill Mauro believes the previous City Council could not have known the court case against CN Rail would drag on for as long as it did or “cost this much.” He says “I guess once they were in, they were in to the end, and so the result is now what we have.”
Following a fire in 2013, there was a dispute over who should fix the structure. The city maintained the railway was responsible for maintaining the bridge based on an agreement signed at the turn of the last century.
A court eventually ruled the city’s favour and CN finally repaired the bridge this year.
