News - Stephenville International Airport

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.