Russell Mayor defends sale of brewery building

Hôtel de Ville | Municipal Offices717 rue Notre-Dame Street Embrun Ontario K0A 1W1

T: 613-443-3066 x 2307 | F: 613-443-1042www.russell.ca | pierreleroux@russell.ca

OFFICE OF THE MAYOR

January 25, 2022

Dear Residents:

RE:Sale of the Township building currently leased to Brasserie Étienne Brulée

I could go into in-depth details regarding the current situation of the Township owned building.

However, I will keep my comments relatively short. Contrary to the one-sided article in the

Review Newspaper, Township staff have been discussing in good faith with the tenant since the

beginning of 2020 the different scenarios that could occur at the end of the December 31, 2020,

lease; this is not new. Even though the lease ended, Township has maintained the current

significant below rental market-rate and accepted the ongoing issue of missed rent payments in

hopes of finding a solution.

Township offered multiple options to the tenant, even offering to trade the building for a portion

of the approximate 100 acres of land owned by the tenant on St-Guillaume Road near our

industrial park. Unfortunately, no offers discussed by either party have been acceptable to the

other thus far.

In our 2022 budget, the sale of this property will help considerably reduce the financing costs to

rehabilitate a municipal bridge; without these funds, it would have necessitated a tax increase.

We are always willing to work with the tenant in finding a solution that is beneficial to both

parties; however, Council does have a responsibility to all businesses and residents, not only

one.

I wish to thank the community for their passionate response to this news article; this only shows

our caring nature. I encourage everyone to continue supporting each other and our local

businesses whenever we can.

Sincerely,

Pierre Leroux

Mayor