The sale of the Shiloh Community Centre garnered over $8,000 for Enniskillen Township.

The township decided to hold a public auction for the building after the furnace was condemned. Council determined with members of the community that there were not enough rentals to cover the cost of a new furnace.

Enniskillen Mayor Kevin Marriott ended up buying the property at auction Monday. Duncan McTavish, administrator/clerk of Enniskillen, says in the end, Marriott and Mark Henry were the final bidders. Henry had considered the property as a possible location for a house, according to McTavish.

During a break in the auction, one person questioned whether Marriott should be bidding considering he was the head of council.

McTavish says there is nothing that would prohibit Marriott from bidding in the public process.

In an email to The Independent, Marriott says during the discussions about the possible sale of the building he declared a possible conflict with the thought he might bid on the property which is across the road from farmland he owns.

McTavish adds the municipality had the property appraised before the auction and kept the value of the property from council. A Sarnia appraisal company suggested it was worth between $3,000 and $4,000 because of the hurdles a buyer would have if they tried to use the building for anything other than a community hall.

McTavish says while the lot may be a good country location, turning the it into a building lot would have required at least one engineer’s report under Ministry of Environment regulations and possibly could have required another by the St. Clair Region Conservation Authority because the land is considered to be in a flood plain.

Under the rules of the auction, Marriott has until next October to take the building down. He also had to pay a $7,500 deposit so if the work was not completed, the municipality would remove the building.