WESTLOCK — Westlock County’s CAO says the Tawatinaw Valley Ski Hill should be seen as a tourism asset, and councillors should avoid letting it go into ruin.
Westlock County councillors are entering negotiations with the Tawatinaw Valley Ski Club, who has been operating the hill for the past three years and are looking to extend their contract. Ahead of the two parties meeting, CAO Kay Spiess led an hourlong history lesson and business analysis at a June 15 governance and priorities meeting.
“I wanted to gather as much information so I could be as impartial with this entire process as possible,” Spiess said. In a previous council meeting, Coun. Dennis Primeau, who is opposed to paying money for ski hill operations, questioned Spiess’ objectivity.
Spiess said she revised all existing documentation on the ski hill, including past contracts, and met with David Woynorowski and Donna Kinley, the two county residents who asked the county for better management and less spending at the hill.
Since 2014, the county has done anywhere from 57 to 85 internal and external reviews of the hill, which Spiess said is a consequence of CAO and council switchovers and costs the county money.
“This issue with the ski hill has been going on a long time. There have been multiple reviews that have happened over the years, and I captured all of them. This will tell you every year how much work has gone into doing reviews of the ski hill and I can’t stress enough, we haven’t even given a number to how much this has all costed,” Spiess said.
“Each time a new council comes in and wants to review the ski hill and wants to see what work has been done and do another internal review, each time a new CAO has come in and reviewed the ski hill, there’s a whole new investigation on the ski hill.”
Apples to oranges/apple seeds/apples
Given recent comparisons in the public sphere between Tawatinaw and other county-owned recreation facilities or nearby ski hills, Spiess said things aren’t exactly similar.
The ski hill and the Long Island Lake Municipal Campground, she said, is apples to oranges since the two facilities are not at all similar in contracts, governance, legislation, or value: the hill’s infrastructure is worth about $2.8 million, versus $90,000 at the campground.
As for nearby ski hills, like Misty Ridge in Barrhead, it’s apples to apple seeds: the 10-acre, one lift, six-run beginner ski hill in Barrhead gets about 65 daily visits, whereas Tawatinaw covers 145 acres, has four lifts, 25 runs, 11 cross country trails and gets anywhere from 150 to 300 daily visits.
Instead, Spiess said, the county’s ski hill is comparable to Nighthawk Ski Hill in Grande Prairie or Misery Mountain in Peace River in terms of size, existing infrastructure and possibility for expansion, four-season recreation, and non-profit or not-for-profit operators.
Between the three hills, Westlock spends the least amount of money: $200,000 in operating and $50,000 in capital funding, compared to $275,000 operating and $490,000 capital in Grande Prairie, and $250,000 operating and plan-based capital grants in Peace River.
“Probably one of the biggest differences between our hill and these other hills is they have vision. They've made this an attraction. Their councils and the public support it, because they value it as an economic opportunity,” Spiess said.
The two hills are closer to large cities than Tawatinaw, although visitation numbers are similar: 15,500 in 2020 at Tawatinaw, 20,000 at Nighthawk and 9,600 at Misery Mountain.
They also have cost-sharing models in place between the nearby MDs, cities and counties.
Don’t let the apples go rotten
The county has had the ski hill since 1967, and it was operated by a non-profit group from 2006 to 2015, then taken over by a private sector operator until 2018, when the county approved the new contract with TVSC, a not-for-profit group.
In terms of overall contract performance between the three operators, Spiess said TVSC has done better at improving and enhancing the hill, creating partnerships, reporting to the county and complying with legislation.
“I can’t stress this enough: a not-for-profit organization does not do it for money, they do it for love, honestly,” Spiess said.
Unlike a private operator, any capital improvements done by TVSC are kept by the county. Spiess concluded that before 2018, the ski hill infrastructure was neglected.
No buyers were interested on the two occasions the county tried to sell the hill, and the relationship they’ve built with TVSC has been “positive and viable.” She said the ski hill should be viewed as a tourism tool rather than recreation.
