Two and a half months ago, a Grey Highlands writer and resident John Butler wrote to the CAO of his municipality about the process of selling the Talisman properties they held. Today he received a response, and shared it with us for our readers - Ms.Govan's answers are in bold italics, between the lines of Mr. Butler's reminder letter, as she sent them.

Dear Ms. Govan,

In an e-mail message to you on November 18 2021, I posed a number of "due/fair process" questions to you related to the sale of Talisman lands. I posed these questions as writer of a South Grey News article, and I thought the answers to these questions might allow the Municipality to demonstrate that due and fair process had been followed, giving as much opportunity to the civic and environmental sectors as to the private sector in terms of opportunity to submit a proposal..

These are the questions I posed:

In relation to the engagement of THINKcompass as (as per the Grey Highlands media release of Oct. 14 2020), the Municipality’s “investment attraction consultants”:

May I receive a copy of the RFP for the work THINKcompass was chosen to do (if in fact there was a competitive process that led to the selection of THINKcompass)?

Grey County contracted with thinkCOMPASS though their procurement process, to attract investment to large county initiatives such as the Wiarton Airport and Talisman lands, as such the municipality is permitted to “piggyback” with the county consultants.

May I receive a copy of the project terms of reference given to THINKcompass, if these terms of reference differ from what is in the RFP?

The scope of work was outlined in the Joint Venture Agreement.

Did THINKcompass contact any potential private sector investors to gauge their interest in the Talisman project?

thinkCOMPASS, tracked all inquiries that were made related to the properties identified in the Joint Venture Agreement. Between December 2020 and June 2021, there were 23 inquiries about the properties. thinkCOMPASS maintained a tracking list of all inquiries and shared this list with the Municipality throughout the process.

And did the firm’s outreach also include outreach to any civic sector or environment organizations to invite them to express interest, or tell them they could express interest, in buying or investing in the Talisman properties?

All interested parties were responded to and provided all relevant information to their inquiry.

I received no acknowledgement from you re: my request nor did I receive answers to these questions.

Given ongoing public concern over whether due process was followed in terms of the Talisman sale, I again respectfully ask you to provide me with answers to these questions.

regards
John Butler
Portlaw, Grey Highlands