Central Manitoulin council wants to divest the municipality of a building they say is under utilized and too expensive to repair.
In a majority vote of 4-3, Central Manitoulin council passed the motion that the tenants of the Big Lake School House, the Big Lake Community Association be given the 90 days-notice required to terminate the lease on the building and that staff be directed to take the next steps to divest the property.
The motion was brought forward after a recommendation had been made to council by its property committee that repairs to the building could be as much as $200,000
Association members want to keep the building open and have been paying the bills since day one except for insurance but does not have the funding to do the repairs.
Council also stressed they do not plan to tear down the building, but rather offer it for sale as part of the divestment process.
The lease expires near the end of March.
