To the Editor:
Thank you to Patrica Frank for drawing my attention to this serious matter. The Port Elgin Beach Preservers is a very large community group of concerned residents and visitors brought together because of the ill-conceived beach development proposed and leasing for 50 years prime publicly owned beachfront and harbour front publicly owned land.
One has to question who is legally advising the Saugeen Shores Council? Why have few of the council used their own good judgement, or sought out private legal counsel on these matters, that were obviously so steeped with errors?
Are they being advised by the same legal council who told them that declaring the beach surplus property was “just a housekeeping matter”? (Words used by our present CAO over and over again, I am assuming this relates to how she was “legally advised” to address this mistake).
What about the legal advice given to sign a 50 year lease? (when a 50 year lease broke the municipality’s own bylaws). The public was never asked by Saugeen Shores Council to submit a 50 year lease proposal, they were asked to submit much shorter lease proposals that fit the existing bylaws of the community of Saugeen Shores. (An under 21 year lease proposal would not have broken any Saugeen Shores bylaws)
I spoke to Saugeen Shores Council (by telephone-I was only allotted a time of 2 minutes) the evening of the council meeting before this historic vote. Prior to attending the meeting by phone, I wrote to as many councillors, and spoke to as many councillors by phone, as I could reach, as I was unaware of this action pending until it was on the council agenda and made public – on both occasions of these two historic municipal debacles.
The “majority” of Saugeen Shores council took the advice of the legal counsel and ignored the straightforward facts.
The facts are;
1. Both Saugeen Shores Council and the lease holder had no legal right to sign a 50 year lease. (according to Saugeen Shores OWN municipal bylaws) at the time they signed the lease.
2. To later declare this town owned large beachfront and harbourfront property “surplus” is incredibly shortsighted by this present Saugeen Shores administration staff and Saugeen Shores council membership.
I suspect, they were advised by the new legal council (council -present council hired this newer legal council) that the previous mistakes of the previous council will “Blow Over” because no one has enough funds to take them to court for making such errors, and it was being treated as a “House Keeping measure” (to make the 50 year illegal lease “allowed”. The existing lease could then be “registered” on title to the deed on the town’s beachfront/harbourfront owned property.
3. My understanding is; this council has continued to use this same lawyer? … actually hired this same legal council now as a full time staff person??
I tried to stop them from making this mistake of declaring the beachfront land surplus, but the majority of council members I spoke to seemed to miss the point that they would not be sued by any party, as both sides of the contract, and their legal counsel, errored by signing a “50” year illegal contract.
I now know most Saugeen Shores council did not understand “why” I was saying they could NOT sign a “50” year lease, when I thought it was so obvious, elementary in fact. (Saugeen Shores Bylaws allow for under 21 year leases. Only surplus properties owned by the municipality, like the Port Elgin Curling Club could have a 21+ year lease.
So very many more people, and much more verbally articulate people than I, tried to guide and advise them from making these mistakes also. Council members did not seem to respect the words of these very taxpayers and residents enough, to even ask all of us questions of clarification, when our 2 minute or 10 minute time allotments were so quickly used up.
Frankly, through the last several years, under the leadership of our present Mayor, some of the bylaws put in place are stifling public involvement in the community’s future. These bylaws are asinine and juvenile, and prevent healthy public involvement and public input.
The present Saugeen Shores CAO and present Saugeen Shores Mayor should resign for their major role in the mishandling of this debacle.
Both legal representatives (the Cedar Crescent Village lawyer) and (the Saugeen Shores lawyer) advised their clients poorly by not questioning the signing of a “50“ years – both legal teams would have known it was illegal to do so, because a lawyer would have checked the existing bylaws of the community to make sure ALL terms of the lease were legal.
I do not understand why the council (of the day) did not tell the applicant(s), Saugeen Shores Council could not “accept” a proposal for a 50 year lease, the rest of the public was not given the same opportunity to propose for that length of time.
A 50 year lease does not benefit the long term best interest of the municipality for so many obvious reasons, just like a “one” year lease did not serve or suit the needs of the community’s when that was all that was offered to the Hess’ family who previously held a “5” year lease repeatedly over many many years.
Respectfully submitted,
Mrs. Lynn Thede
Port Elgin, Ontario
