Castlegar News recently spent some time with Mayor Lawrence Chernoff to get his thoughts on 2017 and his hopes for 2018.
Castlegar News: Looking back at last year, what were you the most excited about?
Lawrence Chernoff: The Jeppesen report [the report that suggests using RNP navigation will fix the Castlegar Airport’s reliability issues] and its findings — mainly because I think it is the next step forward. I look at this — all the years we’ve been dealing with this back-and-forth. What this really gave to me is that there is a solution out there. It’s not that we now have to find the solution, but we have a solution. To me it’s positive … we have the ability to go that next step. What is ahead is hard work but it’s hard work to get something that we’ve been asking for many many, many years. If you have a solution — that gives you that light at the end of the tunnel.
The Fortis building — that’s a huge investment in the community. It brings jobs to the community, it increases the tax base.
I guess the other thing would be grants. We got some grants on the Columbia Avenue Redevelopment, and other grants. Those are the things you work at and it seems like it takes an awfully long time to get there. But when you get there it’s exciting.
Infrastructure is a huge part of our mandate — so we can start filling these gaps. It’s important to the community and it is important how the city looks to everyone else out there.
CN: What was the biggest challenge last year?
LC: The biggest challenge was hiring staff — filling those positions with the right people. In this day and age, people are really picky and choosy for positions so the community really needs to offer things that these people are looking for. When you get to senior staff, they have a lot of selection …
CN: What projects or initiatives are you looking forward to in 2018?
LC: The Columbia Avenue Redevelopment — that is a go-ahead for 2018 and that is looking good.
The other thing is the Community Complex. There has been consultation and public meetings … it is the community that is going to dictate what happens there.
I could tell you when people are asked — recreation and a complex is huge on their list … So when you look at what needs to be done — we need an upgrade. To what extent — that’s really left up to the general public … That is what we as the Recreation Commission and Areas I and J look at, to say, there is an opportunity here …
The survey is closing on [January] 22. Once that is done, it will really give us a good idea … You have to build for the future. You are shortsighted if you don’t build for the future.
We’ve been cautious, but we have been optimistic. After a referendum fails, you are a little more cautious about what you do and you’re always hoping that the people will look at it in the long-term perspective.
It’s about health. Do you want to be healthy — we want to be a healthy community. It’s providing a lifestyle, but it’s a healthy lifestyle.
CN: What will the city be doing in 2018 regarding the airport reliability issues?
LC: It is a work in progress. It is working with partners — that’s from everybody that contributed to the Jeppeson report, to Air Canada, NAV Canada, Transport Canada, Jeppesen aviation and our consultants. I can tell you we are pushing as hard as we can to get to a point of success … We’ve got our foot to the metal — we’re continuing to push, push, push.
You don’t see a lot because there’s a lot of work being done in the background. Once we get to a point — we will let the public know exactly where we are and where things stand.
People need to understand the reliability of the airport plays a huge role in the economic development of the region. Once we get this — and I am very hopeful this is going to come about in the not too distant future — it will open these doors to economic development.
That airport plays a huge role in how we are going to move down the road for the next 20 years.
