The third try seems to have been a charm for the Friends of Tawatinaw Working Group (FTWG), as their perseverance and dedication to the cause has resulted in an agreement between the group and Westlock County to keep the Tawatinaw Valley Ski Hill open for at least the next three years.
Westlock County council's Aug. 14 meeting saw a large crowd of supporters of the FTWG bid to keep the ski hill functioning as a recreational area, pile into council chambers and adjacent space at the county office, to show councillors their concern over the plan to shut down the facility Oct. 1 and explore other options for the future of the area.
After the standing-room-only meeting and a lengthy in-camera session, councillors voted to direct administration to craft a three-year operating agreement with FTWG, including its submission on a capital upgrade plan.
Councillors Dennis Primeau and Fred Slobodian voted against the motion in the 5-2 decision.
"We're ecstatic," said FTWG member Wendy Batog after hearing of council's vote. "The huge support of council and residents was very overwhelming for our group. We've worked at this for over nine months now and our crew in the working group is phenomenal with resources and different, diverse professional skills."
Batog was joined at the meeting by fellow group members Heather Toporowski, Lori Latreille, Colin Felstad and Reint Boelman in delivering a 15-minute presentation to plead their case to council one more time.
They presented while the assembled crowd listened intently. The crowd included area residents of all ages and also featured special guests from other larger ski hills in the province — namely Derek Look of Rabbit Hill, Tim Dea of Snow Valley, Grant Bacon of Sunridge and Christopher Nicolson of the Canada West Ski Areas Association, who each travelled to Westlock to give their support to the group and its proposal.
Also in FTWG's corner was 1968 Olympic gold medal winning alpine skier and former Canadian senator Nancy Greene Raine, who was also voted Canada's Female Athlete of the 20th Century in 1999. She wrote a letter to FTWG to congratulate them on the announcement.
County council had voted unanimously at its July 24 meeting to shutter the ski area due to the fiscal challenges of operating such a limited-use facility for only three or four months of the year.
A marathon in-camera meeting followed Aug. 2 to further discuss the decision, but council came to the same conclusion.
Numerous attempts by the county to sell the facility have come up without a buyer and council decided that rather than continue to absorb the annual six-figure loss, to get the facility off its books.
FTWG made several changes to its proposal before re-presenting to council.
"I guess the key change is we're looking at that recreational property as a four-season facility to increase levels of activity for the health and wellness of the youth and the community," said Batog.
The first step in the FTWG plan is to make the ski hill an attraction in and of itself to draw not only local skiers, but those from afar as well, said Batog. Once site visits have increased, they will embark on a publicity campaign to attract even more.
Westlock County reeve Lou Hall said she can't wait to see what the future holds for the hill, now that an agreement is in place. The possibilities are endless and could include equine and mountain bike clubs, BMXers and other outdoor sports clubs. The facility could also be used for weddings, reunions, corporate retreats, or even to host concerts, she said.
"The Friends of Tawatinaw certainly had a lot of determination. Having meaningful discussions with them and coming up with collaborative approaches to open the ski hill, such as focusing on youth and seniors and making it a four-season facility is a good start," said Hall.
"It was kind of enlightening in that we made the decision to close the ski hill down and we get a community group saying 'No, no, we don't want this,' and they actually did something ... I can say with all certainty that they know what they're doing, so good on them."
While not yet formally drawn up, the operating agreement between the two parties will include a commitment from the county to provide $200,000 annually for operating costs along with $50,000 for capital costs every year, said chief administrative officer Leo Ludwig.
That $50,000 will also have to be matched by FTWG through fundraising efforts, but as a volunteer organization the group will also be eligible for numerous grants that were not available to the county. The hope is costs will be addressed as much as possible through fundraising, grants and sponsorship dollars.
"They also have to submit a capital improvement plan that's acceptable to the county no later than Oct. 31," said Ludwig.
FTWG has estimated $462,500 will be required for infrastructure improvements over five years, but will work with the county to finalize that estimate.
The county will also continue to pay down the $1.5 million debenture that was used to build the chalet. About $860,000 of that debt will remain as of the end of 2018.
"We'd like to thank Westlock County council, the CAO and administration for giving our group the opportunity to re-present our proposal," said Batog. "We'd also like to thank all the people who came to our meetings, wrote letters and emails and made phone calls."
"I have never seen such a dedicated and determined group in all my years of volunteering," said Hall. "I'm being optimistically positive and I hope I'm not disappointed."
If you would like to volunteer or be involved in the future of the ski hill, you can contact FTWG at [email protected].
