DK Consulting, the firm leasing the Tawatinaw ski hill, will have to pay arrears on taxes it owes since the end of June to Westlock County.
County council passed a motion at a special meeting Dec. 22 that rescinded a previous motion from June 28 that suspended all of DK Consulting’s rent and tax payments until the county had a new CAO and a new agreement could be made with the firm.
A second motion was passed stating that lease negotiations would resume once arrears are paid on taxes and rent.
Coun. Ray Marquette made both motions, which were passed unanimously by all five councillors present. Councillors Dennis Primeau and Albert St. Louis were not present during the vote — St. Louis left the meeting during an in-camera discussion.
When asked whether the current lease is back on the table, chief administrative officer Leo Ludwig said that was “correct.”
When questioned whether he’d say how much the leasee owes, Ludwig replied “no.”
He also explained that the lease agreement is still in place.
As for undisclosed amendments to the lease that were submitted to Dom Kriangkum and DK Consulting at the end of November, Ludwig said they haven’t been dealt with.
“They’re in abeyance at this point, until we resolve the other issue,” said the CAO.
“It’s not really fair to call it that because his payments were suspended by the county, not him, so to say he’s in arrears I think paints him in a negative light that he doesn’t deserve.”
Reeve Don Savage also added that Kriangkum wasn’t in “arrears” because the motion to suspend payments was made months ago.
“If he’s in arrears, it’s only (for) 15 minutes,” he said.
Now that the motion has been suspended, Kriangkum will have to back pay from the date the motion was made for the payment suspension.
Ludwig said that the lease did include a timeframe for when arrears must be paid back before the county reclaims the property, but he did not know what that was off hand.
Kriangkum could not be reached for comment Dec. 23.
Savage noted that the lease and subsequent motions were made several CAOs ago and Ludwig and much of the county’s head administration are new to and catching up with what has happened over the last several months.
“I’m in total defence of Leo’s behalf as a reeve, saying that sometimes these lease agreements take time to put together,” Savage said. “Leo just hasn’t had the time.”
Motion to suspend
At a June 28 meeting, council voted 6-1 in favour of Westlock County “suspending all rent and tax payments until they have a new CAO and a new agreement can be made with DK Consulting.”
Consolidated financial statements present at that meeting stated the annual rental amount for the hill was $18,000 plus property taxes. DK Consulting signed a $2.2 million lease/purchase agreement for three years, starting Jan. 1, 2016. The total value of the ski lodge in the lease, as of Dec. 31, 2015, was $527,499 less than the cost to build the lodge.
The suspension was originally put in place due to site deficiencies, including drainage problems and a soft parking lot, which cost $560,000 to repair.
In July, then-interim director of engineering and infrastructure Wayne Bullock identified sinking concrete pads, backfill compression, an inadequate parking lot and a flooded swale as landscaping concerns at the ski hill. The price tag for county crews to fix some of those issues had a “ballpark estimate” of $110,000.
By their Sept. 13 meeting, council approved $30,000 worth of repairs to the site this year, while further repairs, estimated at more than $58,000, would be discussed as part of 2017 budget deliberations.
Repairs included work on the parking lot, adding backfill around the chalet and sloping the earth. County crews began levelling out the parking lot this past fall.
