North Huron council said farewell to members of the Wingham Police Service at Tuesday's council meeting.
Officers were presented with plaques in appreciation of their service by Reeve Bernie Bailey and Deputy Reeve Trevor Seip.
Wingham Police Chief Tim Poole, who is the lone member of the service not making the transition to OPP as he intends to retire, said, "North Huron staff has been helping me out in preparation to get it ready for the OPP".
Reeve Bailey called it a sad day.
"We were sitting in a situation where we didn't want to lose our police, but we just couldn't afford to keep them," he said. "The town is too small to have its own force. A lot of municipalities have had to go through this before us, and will have to go through it after us, but it was just a financial decision."
The Wingham Police Service will officially hand over policing of North Huron's Wingham Ward to the Ontario Provincial Police on Thursday, February 21 at noon.
North Huron Reeve Bernie Bailey and Deputy Reeve Trevor Seip present Wingham Police Chief Tim Poole with a plaque in recognition of his service (Photo by Adam Bell)