May 1, 2012 – County Compass misinforms
The recent County Compass article, Dueling plans could kill efforts to incorporate, by Penny Zibula (Vol.4, Issue 17, May 4&5) contains several quotes by Chuck Tyson, Mayor of Trent Woods, and owner of properties within the Harbour, and the Broad Creek Cottages beyond the borders of Fairfield Harbour. Ms Zibula’s article strongly suggests that Mr. Tyson is adamantly opposed to the incorporation of Fairfield Harbour.
Nothing, it seems, could be further from the truth.
According to Mr. Tyson, Penny Zibula phoned him to ask him whether he knew that “a new map for incorporation had been drawn. She said my (Broad Creek Cottages) property would be included. I had been asked by the folks at COMINFAIR whether I wanted those properties included,” he continued, “and I told them I didn’t. I thought they had gone back on their word. I didn’t have a full understanding of the situation.”
When Mr. Tyson read the resulting Compass article, he told the FACTS investigator, “After seeing the article I realized that the anti-incorporation people were trying to drag myself and the other owners of the Broad Creek Cottage sites into an internal Fairfield Harbour discussion on incorporation. I should have simply said, ‘No comment’, until I had all the facts. Whoever drew up this new map is simply trying to confuse the issue by including property that is in no way compatible to Fairfield Harbour into a Fairfield Harbour incorporation discussion.”
Mr. Tyson then stressed that he has no ill will towards Fairfield Harbour, and he wishes its residents well, but, he explained, the Broad Creek Cottage properties do not belong in a Fairfield Harbour town. He does not object to his Fairfield Harbour properties being incorporated. “I pay my dues, and I don’t mind paying a little extra in taxes, if that’s what the people in Fairfield Harbour want,” he told the FACTS investigator. He added, “I didn’t answer the survey because I don’t live in the Harbour, and I felt that only the people who live in Fairfield Harbour should decide this issue.”
Mr. Tyson readily agreed to allow FACTS to present the situation as it really happened. He has seen, and agreed to this article.