Officials with both Moose Jaw school divisions and the provincial government met recently with city council to discuss an issue — possibly the land for the joint-use school — behind closed doors.
The group attended city council’s regular meeting on July 27 and sat through the proceedings of the meeting before eventually making their presentation during the in-camera — behind closed doors — section of the executive committee meeting that followed.
Seven people were part of the group, but those known to the public were: Tony Baldwin, director of education for Prairie South School Division, Sean Chase, director of education for Holy Trinity Roman Catholic School Division, PSSD board chair Robert Bachmann, Holy Trinity board chair Derek Hassen, and deputy minister of education Rob Currie.
The other two individuals were unknown; they could have been with the school divisions or with the Ministry of Education.
It is unknown what the group discussed with city council and city administration. It’s likely the men spoke first during the executive committee meeting since they left first. The first topic on the agenda explained that the parties discussed the issue behind closed doors based on sections 16(1)(c) and 17(1)(b), (d), (e) and (f) of The Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
Section 16(1) of LA FOIP is advice from officials, specifically, “positions, plans, procedures, criteria or instructions developed for the purpose of contractual or other negotiations by or on behalf of the local authority, or considerations that relate to those negotiations.”
Section 17(1) of LA FOIP deals with economic and other interests; (b) is about “financial, commercial, scientific, technical or other information,” (d) is about “information, the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to interfere with contractual or other negotiations of the local authority,” (e) is about “positions, plans, procedures, criteria or instructions developed for the purpose of contractual or other negotiations by or on behalf of the local authority, or considerations that relate to those negotiations,” and (f) is about “information, the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to prejudice the economic interest of the local authority.”
Given this, one might presume that the conversation between the education group and city council was about the proposed joint-use school on South Hill, specifically, in the Westheath neighbourhood.
During an in-camera executive committee meeting on Jan. 30, council approved a recommendation to direct city administration to sell phases 5 and 6 of the Westheath property to Prairie South School Division and Holy Trinity Catholic School Division for $2,541,848.
Both school divisions would be allowed to market and lead the development of the 10 acres (four hectares) at $15,000 per acre. They would also be responsible for the development levies and all costs associated with the existing concept plan. They also want to find a company that would purchase the 10 acres of land and develop it while adjusting the original plans that the City of Moose Jaw initially laid out for it.
The Moose Jaw Express will continue to dig into this topic.
The next executive committee meeting is Monday, Aug. 10.
