WESTLOCK — The Tawatinaw Valley Ski Club has officially expressed interest in continuing as operators of the ski hill, and conversations on the potential contract extension in Westlock County council chambers continue to be charged.
At the May 25 meeting, councillors voted 5-1 to accept the letter for information, with Coun. Dennis Primeau voting against.
The details of the renewal terms the ski club requested have been redacted, but in previous appearances before county council, ski club president Wendy Batog said they are looking to keep the $200,000 per year in operating funding, but could work without the $50,000 for capital projects.
The three-page letter details what they describe as a successful three-year term running the ski hill, extended volunteering, more visitors than before, and a series of new facilities and capital improvements.
"In summary, we have put in place a successful non-profit model with excellent stewardship of a significant Westlock County asset, while adhering to standards, complying with audits and governance requirements,” Batog wrote.
“We feel we can continue to develop the facility into a significant driver for economic and tourism growth, while offering services that promote the mental, social and physical health of our residents and communities.”
Primeau appeared to misunderstand the purpose of a letter of intent, which expresses the ski club’s desire to continue as operators of the ski hill and their starting funding request. Primeau claimed that the motion to accept for information is “very general” and “we really don’t know what we’re voting on.”
He called the letter a “renewal notice” and said it only gives authority to the ski hill, leaves absolutely nothing to the county,” even though CAO Kay Spiess pointed out that the two parties will be entering negotiations.
“You’re basically telling me it’s a renewal notice, there is no amendments going to be involved. Is that correct? Let's get this straight before we go any further. A renewal notice, and it already has all the information in it so there will be no amendments,” Primeau argued to audible disagreement from other councillors.
Spiess responded: “We had a subsequent conversation you and I last Friday, where we talked about this letter going forward. And in that discussion, Coun. Primeau, we did say that this is just a letter of intent and my team will work on the agreement together.
“There may be amendments in there, there will be options for council to decide what they want to do moving forward. But it’s our due diligence to bring forward options that we think are fair, they look at financial analysis, they look at the market, they look at a bunch of different pieces. But there will be options for council in that review during negotiations. At this time, we’re still pulling all that information together so there’s nothing to be discussed. Again, we’ll go in camera when we’re ready for those negotiations. But at this time, this letter is just to say the group intends to renew and that is it.”
Spiess said they’ve taken David Woynorowski’s presentation two weeks ago as one perspective on the ski hill, but that an internal analysis will be conducted, including a history of contracts dating back to the 1980s and a financial analysis.
In a series of comments, Primeau (in order) questioned the professionalism of county staff, told Spiess she was biased, claimed the dollar figures have changed “I don’t know how many times,” and that councillors didn’t know what they were voting on because the numbers had been redacted in the letter that was made public.
He called the process “buffoonery,” and defended Woynorowski’s experience to the disadvantage of county staff impartiality.
“We need somebody from the outside who does this professionally, because what you’re doing, whether (Spiess) knows it or not, she doesn’t like social media, she’s heading there and it’s nobody to blame but yourself. The minute you miss something and you make some error, you’re going to have social media... you’re setting yourself up to a trap,” Primeau said.
“(Spiess) can tell me all this about being independent, the conversation I had with her indicated a great deal of bias. That's all I can tell you.”
He didn’t receive a warning from reeve Jared Stitsen or the rest of council for any of the comments towards staff.
“In my previous life, I was a consultant so that was my job, to go through contracts and to look at business deals. We're professionals on our side of the team here,” Spiess responded.
“Again, it is our role to look at contracts, to analyze them. You're absolutely right, I'm not interested in the political side, I'm interested in a non-biased opinion. Again, I plan to move forward with that. I'm not interested in what everybody thinks about it, I'm interested in what the business deal is, what the agreement is.”
