Ratepayer gets no satisfaction over former school purchases

Jeff Green | Aug 24, 2016

Kent Labbett was very concerned about Central Frontenac's purchase of the former public school's in Sharbot Lake and Parham.

So, he sent a letter to Mayor Frances Smith and the township Council on February 8th, asking a number of questions about the purchases.

He questioned what the townships “long term goal” was for the two properties. He also asked whether there was an information package available from the Limestone Board about the properties, if it was available to the township and if Mayor Smith has read the package before council decided to make the purchase.

He also wnated to know if township[ staff had inspected the buildings before the purchase, and if the township considered and budgeted for tearing the buildings down before making the purchases.

He told the News that after not hearing back from the Mayor by late February he called Cathy MacMunn, Chief Administrative Officer for Central Frontenac.

He said that Macmunn began to offer some explanations but he cut her off, saying “I need to hear this from the Mayor.”

He did not hear back, and based on a search of the online agendas to council meetings between March and July, the letter does not appear in the package of correspondance.

In mid-July, Labbett pressed the issue again, and on July 19th, he did hear back from Frances Smith via email.

She provided a point by point response to his questions.

The long term goal for the properties “is to develop the Sharbot Lake property into a senior's residence; for the Hinchinbrooke property there were a few ideas such as : possible site of a new township garage; use as a recreation centre; a possible business project such as a craft brewery operation.”

As far as an information package about the building is concerned, she wrote that “apparently there was one on file. We did not see it or discuss it with staff prior to purchasing. We were aware the buildings were not in A-one shape because that is why the school board closed them. We did not know how bad Sharbot Lake was until we did a walk through and definitely it is not able to be renovated.”

She also wrote that the appraisal of the properties was higher than the price the township paid for them. For example, she noted that the initial asking price for Hinchinbrooke school was $220,000 and the township paid $100,000 for the property.

She said that the township “did not budget for the tear down nor have we expended any money on tear down, however, we are setting aside $25,000 erach year into a reserve to provide for the tear down sometime down the road.”

She added that the township may be eligible for grants to assist with the tear down if it is done in order to build a senior's residence.

These responses did not satisfy Kent Labbett.

He told the News that he does not “think the township should be involved in real estate speculation. That should be left to people in the land development business.”

He also said he does not understand how the Mayor did not read the “package about the property from the school board. To acknowledge she had it and yet didn't read it is troubling. Why would she not consult with her head building official in advance of purchases rather than after the fact? If she had it would have made her aware that the building was of no value and tearing it down would be a major expense.”

He has written a follow up letter to the Mayor making these points as well as others. Here is his concluding paragraph: “In my opinion I do not feel these purchases were prudent with the informaion available. Please provide some solid information that hopefully will change my opinion of what I think was an extremely poor decision on the part of Central Frontenac Council. Would you have acted in the same fashion if you were spending your personal money as opposed to taxpayers? Just saying ... ”