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Airports
Brockton council to seek legal opinion on Saugeen Municipal Airport
July 29, 2024 By Pauline Kerr, Local Journalism Initiative, The Walkerton Herald Times
BROCKTON – On April 17, the councils of Brockton, West Grey and Hanover held a joint meeting at the Elmwood community centre to discuss the future of Saugeen Municipal Airport.
At that time, the general consensus among the three was to hold another meeting within two months. Also discussed was whether the councils wished to seek separate legal opinions on the matter.
Since the joint meeting, both West Grey and Hanover have decided to seek legal advice.
At a meeting June 4, West Grey council considered two options – proceed with the sale of SMA, and review the cost sharing formula and revising the agreement accordingly. The report stated that prior to making a decision and committing to one of these options, council directed staff to “obtain legal advice on selling the SMA, including the steps to be taken should one of the three partners wish to proceed with a sale, and the impacts if one of the partners voluntarily withdraws from the agreement, such as whether they would receive a benefit from the asset.”
At Hanover’s meeting on June 17, council decided to “obtain a legal opinion about the dissolution clauses in the current agreement, and the impacts should one or more partners wish to sell the airport.”
During the July 9 meeting of Brockton council, Fiona Hamilton, director of legislative and legal services, presented a report on the matter. As stated in her report, “Given that both the Municipality of West Grey and the Town of Hanover are taking time to obtain legal opinions about the potential sale options (for the airport), staff recommend that Brockton follow suit and obtain its own confirming legal opinion outlining the potential steps and options that may be available.”
Coun. Greg McLean suggested waiting to see what West Grey’s and Hanover’s legal opinions said, and possibly “save some money.”
Hamilton noted that another municipality’s legal advice is subject to their lawyer-client privilege. “Our interests are not necessarily aligned,” she said, saying, “it’s better to seek our own.”
