Greater Sudbury city council met in closed session on May 5 to discuss the possibility of the city potentially acquiring assets from Laurentian University.
Council is permitted under the procedures bylaw to meet in closed session, though members aren’t permitted to discuss the specifics of the matters that are dealt with while in closed session.
Mayor Brian Bigger explained the nature of the meeting to Sudbury.com without diving into specific details, stating that the meeting was really about ensuring that council was plotting the best course of action in the event that Laurentian University finds itself in a position where it is selling assets.
“The key thing here to recognize is that councillors have been quite engaged with citizens, with any of their contacts at Laurentian, with MPPs and MPs and everyone involved, as have I,” said Bigger.
“This was an opportunity for council to deal with the acquisition or disposition of land in our position that we know Laurentian will be putting forward in the second phase of their CCAA filing.”
Laurentian hasn’t yet produced a list of assets, but Bigger says that he and council have been fully engaged in the process. As part of its restructuring process after having declared itself insolvent back in February, Laurentian is compiling a list of its real estate holdings.
“We’re having these conversations about what we can do to protect and conserve these community assets and those conversations have been ongoing,” said Bigger.
The purpose of council meeting in closed session was not to pick and choose what assets the city may be interested in specifically, but rather to ensure that they are on the same page with their strategy when the time comes.
“Everyone expects that there’s a list of land or buildings that will be produced by Laurentian University to be disposed of in that CCAA process,” said Bigger.
“With that understanding, (Wednesday’s meeting) talks about our position, our plan or instructions to be applied to negotiations regarding Laurentian filings.”
Wednesday’s closed session afforded councillors the opportunity to discuss what their involvement will be in the negotiation process and how that process will go.
“We want to make sure that we represent the citizens well and we’re not revealing all of the conversations with council,” said Bigger.
“If we would end up putting in a bid for assets that we’re interested in, it would be according to affordability and the importance of the asset to the community, but to show your cards may be increasing the price by having other bidders (get involved) it may elevate the price, so indicating a specific asset is of highest importance may increase the price.”
Bigger likened the process to purchasing a home, where tipping your hand too early and indicating high levels of interest is likely to drive the price upwards.
Council and the mayor have been involved in the discussions throughout the process and are trying to maintain their position for if and when the time comes that Laurentian begins selling off its assets.
“I don’t want to really speak about any specific assets, generally I would be concerned that if we mention an asset that isn’t on the list,” said Bigger.
“The best case scenario is if Laurentian would not have to expose any assets, and that would also be the best use of municipal funds if Laurentian didn’t have to dispose of any assets. I’m sure that Laurentian is open to being committed to the second stage of the CCAA filing.”
