At the Dec. 8 meeting of Beiseker council, councillors were informed by Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Jo Lambert a report of a private plane allegedly damaged at the Beiseker Airport in October will be turned over to the Village’s insurance company to determine fault.
Lambert said David St. Amand, the man who alleges his Piper Cherokee 140 aircraft was damaged while it was tied down at the Beiseker Airport, sent a letter to council disputing council’s decision that it was not the Village’s or the airport’s fault his plane was damaged.
“He wrote me a three-page letter telling me he didn’t accept the fact we said no, so I just turned it over to our insurance company,” Lambert said.
Lambert added that the Village’s deductible is $2,500, which is less expensive to pay than the cost to repair the plane’s damage, which is estimated to be $6,250, if the Village is at found to be at fault.
“We sent (our insurance company) pictures of our moors to show there is no damage, no paint transfer or anything like that,” Lambert said.
“We didn’t see that we had responsibility for his damage for his airplane,” Mayor Ray Courtman said as reported in the Nov. 3 edition of Rocky View Weekly.
Because of this incident, the Beiseker Airport put up signs to avoid future liability, which informs pilots to “tie-down at your own risk.”
Lambert said the Village’s insurance company, Alberta Municipal Services Corporation Insurance, told her the Village will have no more contact with St. Amand about this issue.
Museum upgrades
During his councillor reports, Councillor Warren Wise informed council the museum board’s plan to revamp the Beiseker Station Museum basement is underway.
“It’s the gloomiest basement on the face of the earth,” Wise said. “We got a quote to paint and I suggested new strip lighting and LED lights to brighten the whole thing up.”
The quote for painting the basement was $625 for labour only. The money for upgrades, Wise said, will come out of the board’s casino funds.
Wise said he is still waiting for a quote to sandblast and paint the boxcar located behind the caboose at the Village Office and museum.
He said the boxcar will be painted yellow to match the caboose.
“It looks like junk right now,” Wise said. “Let’s paint it and make it look good.”
Though Wise said he’s unclear on what the designated designs and colours should traditionally be according to Canadian Pacific Railway, he said it’s not worth “getting twisted up about.” He said he’s tried to contact the owner of the car, The Alberta 2005 Centennial Railway Museum Society, for months to no avail.
“It’s like they don’t exist anymore,” Wise said. “If they don’t like it, they can paint it on their own,” he said.
Wise said the upgrades won’t take place until after the New Year.
