Coun. Amanda Freake says she's had enough of the harassment, threats and bullying on social media about the lease agreement between the Town of Deer Lake and Park Fitness.
And she wanted to set the record straight on a couple of items being floated around the agreement that was addressed by council Monday night.
The issue revolves around a lease agreement between Deer Lake and Park Fitness regarding the former fire hall in the community.
The town contends the gym signed an agreement to lease the property for eight months starting in January 2018 and ending in August of this year. After a two-month extension was approved by council, that lease is running out.
However, gym owner Dawn Bingle-Park believes the town is forcing her out early and that she signed a short-term lease for 18 to 22 months.
It means the closure of the facility and a loss for the residents of Deer Lake.
Freake said she brought it to the Oct. 1 regular meeting of council because she felt it was important that people get a better handle of what actually unfolded between the two sides.
“I felt I had to get all the facts on the table that were delivered to the six people around the table who were voting on this,” Freake said Tuesday afternoon.
Freake said a lot of supporters of Park Fitness are upset about hearing the gym is going to close. The councillor said she also heard from people in the private sector who are upset they were not afforded the same opportunity to rent the building.
Freake said the lease agreement with the town was for eight months with the understanding that the town hall would serve as a temporary solution and the owners would have to find another location if they wanted to keep the business open.
She had no problem with voting for a two-month extension because she wanted to support a local business that seemed to be in dire straits with no luck in finding a permanent home.
Freake said she had a meeting with the owners where it was made clear that she didn’t think the location was suitable for anything other than a storage garage, but the owners obviously felt it was sufficient because they decided to move into the fire hall anyway.
Freake said she spent hours combing through all the facts and correspondence related to the file before she spoke at the council meeting.
Late last week, a post to the town’s Facebook page attempted to explain how the situation reached this point.
It was widely shared and generated plenty of discussion, including a rebuttal from Bingle-Park.
In the post, Bingle-Park said a representative of the gym did not approach council looking to use the fire hall as the location for the facility.
She also said the decision to lease the building to Park Fitness was made in December 2017.
Freake wants people to understand the Town of Deer Lake isn’t closing Park Fitness and that the town's only role was to inform the company its lease has expired.
Freake said the town has an economic officer in place who can help assist business owners find a suitable commercial property to operate a business and she encourages anybody with an idea to bring it forward.
Instead of tearing down the old fire hall or selling its assets, Freake said council wants to hold on to the piece of land because it may become valuable down the road.
The Western Star made multiple attempts to reach Bingle-Park, but was unsuccessful.
