GUERNSEY – Progress is being made on the Guernsey airport. Guernsey town planner John Burfeind has been working with Ag Flyers owner John Otten, who is not worried about the cracking in the taxiway and apron. Ag Flyers is interested in leasing the large hangar and the FBO (Fixed Base Operating; basically, the office), and WYDOT will be inspecting the cracks for crack sealing.
“According to Ag Flyers, they’ve seen worse, and it doesn’t have to be up to military standards to be used on the civilian side,” Burfeind said.
If this goes forward, the town would still have the T-hangars to rent, and there have been several people contact them about renting them. Burfeind emphasized, the bottom line is the town cannot lose money with the airport: it has to either break even or make a profit, but things are progressing in a positive direction.
On the code enforcement side of things, Burfeind said there had been an issue with the Port of Entry in Torrington giving truckers route information that directed them to go down South Wyoming Ave. to cross the bridge of the North Platte River. The South Wyoming bridge is only a 41-ton bridge, and truck traffic is prohibited along the route.
Burfeind said the WYDOT state troopers and port of entry managers were very quick to respond to the town’s inquiry into the matter, and instructions to truck traffic was changed to route them down Rollins Road, just west of the town.

New Fire Chief elected
At a council meeting in February, the council approved the removal of the former fire chief from his position and gave mayor Ed Delgado authority to appoint a temporary fire chief to hold statutorily required elections for the Guernsey Volunteer Fire Department. The election of officers was held and Wes Sterner was elected to the position of fire chief.
He said the department is gearing up in preparing for the fire season. Vehicle and equipment maintenance is being done, and members are on track with their training to all have their red cards.
Other officers elected were Chris Orr (maintenance chief), Justin Orr (captain), Levi Jankowski (lieutenant), and Bailey Orr (secretary/treasurer). There are currently 12 volunteer firefighters in the GVFD, and four applications have been picked up by potential new volunteers. Each of the volunteer fire departments in the area would welcome able-bodied volunteers.
“You can’t have too many volunteers,” Sterner said.
“My goal is to try to be as open and transparent as possible,” Sterner said. Meetings are held the first at 6 p.m. Wednesday of every month, and the training nights are the fourth Wednesday at 6 p.m. Both meetings are at town hall and are open to the public.
In a related subject, Camp Guernsey’s Lt. Col. Laquendin Counts told the council the camp is planning to do backburns and cutting firelines to get ahead of the fire season. The camp has also set a date of April 8 for a large-scale fire training for all area fire departments to participate before fire season gets into full swing.
The town is inviting the public to attend the Sip ‘n Stuff on April 9 at the basement of the VFW Post 4471. Volunteers will be helping stuff thousands of Easter Eggs and preparing gift baskets for the town’s Easter Egg Hunt (from 4-7 pm. April 11).