The wheels are in motion to have two major motions Annapolis County’s previous council approved after the fall election quashed.
Both motions passed on Nov. 4, six days before the new council was sworn in, marked substantial developments in the proposed Gordonstoun Nova Scotia development pitched for the former Upper Clements Park site. One approved a lease agreement with Gordonstoun developer E.A. Farren, Limited, and the other directive allowed for the conveyance of property for the project.
But the motions aren’t sitting well with the sitting council.
The group turned to Cox & Palmer for a legal opinion regarding the validity of the motions that were largely called into question based on the timing of the Nov. 4 meeting, and the number of times the previous council met after the Oct. 17, 2020 municipal election.
The former council met on Oct. 20, 28 and Nov. 4, 2020. The first session was a regularly scheduled meeting and the others were, according to Cox & Palmer’s findings, “convened on short notice.”
Warden Alan Parish read the opinion obtained from Cox & Palmer during a regular council meeting held Jan. 19. Counsel from the Halifax-based firm took the position that the actions that unfolded at the Oct. 28 and Nov. 4 council meetings violated the Municipal Elections Act and the Municipal Government Act.
“As a whole, the applicable legislative scheme mandates an immediate transaction of power at the first meeting outside of the recount period, which, in this case, occurred on Oct. 28, 2020,” read Parish, reciting the legal opinion in the videotaped council session on Jan. 19.
Based on their interpretation of the legislation, Cox & Palmer advised that the new council should have been sworn in on Oct. 28.
“The former councillors, by acting in breach of their statutory obligations, in effect purported to unilaterally extend their terms of office beyond what is mandated by the legislation. Failure to observe a statutory requirement is a ground upon which a resolution of council may be quashed,” read Parish.
“In Cox & Palmer’s view, council’s disregard for the applicable statutory requirements renders any decision made in the course of that violation illegal and therefore void… from the outset.”
The legal opinion recited by Parish concluded with Cox & Palmer pointing the municipality in the direction of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court.
New Gordonstoun motions passed
Council unanimously approved a Jan. 19 motion instructing Cox & Palmer to proceed with a Supreme Court application to have the E. A. Farren, Limited lease agreement and land conveyance motions quashed.
“I will be voting in favour of this motion. It concerns a subject that has concerned citizens of Annapolis County and the Annapolis County Council for a number of months,” said Coun. Alex Morrison, offering remarks prior to the vote.
“I find it very attractive, the wording of our legal counsel, that this issue is likely not one that council can unilaterally resolve by reconsideration.”
Council went on to pass a motion stating that “the RFP for the Gordonstoun feasibility study be immediately actioned and have a target completion date of not later than May 1, 2021.”
Acting chief administrative officer Louis Coutinho will draft the RFP, and the resulting study will be paid for out of the $7.2 million the County of Annapolis has already committed toward the Gordonstoun development.
On top of calling for a feasibility study, council is directing Coutinho to request a copy of the agreement E. A. Farren, Limited has with Gordonstoun Scotland.
The elected officials also authorized the warden and clerk to sign a loan note from the Royal Bank of Canada to secure another $1 million in short-term borrowing for the Gordonstoun project.
“As I understand it, we borrow another million, but we only pay interest on what we draw down from that, so what it basically does is increases our loan availability, but we only pay on what we use,” said Parish.
“… The total loan facility is 7.2, but we’re drawing it down in different increments.”
Money talks
Parish said about $1,613,000, plus an additional $188,000 that came out of operating reserves, has been spent thus far.
“This allows us to borrow another million, but we’re only going to use $113,000 to bring things square,” said Parish.
About $868,000 has been advanced to Farren as part of a total advance of roughly $1.1 million.
“The $868,000 was money advanced just to Mr. Farren,” said Parish.
“We don’t know what he’s used it for, as I understand it, but it’s secured by promissory notes.”
The municipality announced intentions to purchase the Upper Clements Park properties earmarked for the proposed Gordonstoun school for $600,000 last March.
On Dec. 30, E. A. Farren, Limited managing director Edward Farren advised Annapolis County Council in writing that the company is still working on raising the necessary financing to begin construction.
“As you and your colleagues on council are well aware, financial negotiations are most successful when carried out in person, which has not been possible due to COVID. To have done otherwise during the pandemic would have proven disastrous for the project,” the letter states.
The correspondence predicts that the required travel and face-to-face interactions will be possible in late April and May.
Farren proceeded to inform council that the school’s founding principal, Simon C. Lees, is slated to arrive in Annapolis County this summer.
“E. A. Farren, Limited is moving forward on raising the necessary financing and we will keep the County of Annapolis fully informed on our progress,” Farren’s letter concludes.
