Mayor addresses airport emails

Stephenville council briefs - Stephenville Mayor Tom O'Brien took a moment at last week's council meeting to address a series of emails that were forwarded to some community members regarding Stephenville Airport.

Penned by Jeffery Short, a self-described concerned citizen, the emails questioned the mayor's support of finding a third party operator for Stephenville Airport. He also recently took the mayor to task in a letter to the editor in the Georgian.

In one of the emails, Mr. Short informed the selected recipients about a conference call between town representatives and KAZ that took place last week.

Mayor O'Brien told council he and Councillor Darren Roberts - town finance chair - were the two individuals chosen to negotiate with KAZ on behalf of the town.

"We've been doing that within the parameters which were unanimously agreed to by council," said the mayor. "Those discussions are continuing and in the vice president of KAZ's own words, 'They remain very excited about the future of Stephenville Airport.'"

The mayor went on to say the town's focus is not only to finalize an agreement with KAZ regarding the airport, but to see the facility's continued operation.

The mayor said he replied to Mr. Short's email, offering a meeting to discuss the airport.

He also reminded council negotiations with KAZ could not be carried out in a public forum.

Policy review starts debate

A review of a town fire protection policy sparked debate at the Feb. 11 council meeting.

Mayor O'Brien said while the town has offered fire protection to the community of Gull Pond for at least the last 20 years, it is a service the residents of that area have not paid for. The town is looking at changing this policy to include a service fee.

Councillor Cec Stein questioned why the town's fire department would respond to calls in the Gull Pond area at all. The Councillor said he felt sending a fire truck to respond to a fire at Gull Pond could leave the town vulnerable.

The mayor said the town would continue to respond to calls at Gull Pond, but in the meantime continue to discuss the issue of fees associated with those services.

Miss Teen NL

Councillor Darlene Oake took a few moments to congratulate three Stephenville youth who are vying for the title of Miss Teen NL.

Jennifer O'Quinn, Parinita Verma and Brittany Vardy will compete, alongside other young women from the province, for the crown on Mar. 30.

In the meantime, Councillor Oake said residents are able to pre-vote on a people's choice candidate by emailing peopleschoice2010@nfpageants.net.

reporter@thegeorgian.ca