Westlock County council took a second look at the Friends of Tawatinaw Valley proposal to operate the Tawatinaw Ski Hill last week, but came to the same conclusion — the facility will close Oct. 1 unless a buyer is found.
The proposal was on the agenda of a three-hour, in-camera meeting held Aug. 2 that saw council vote 7-0 to accept it as information.
Thursday’s meeting came as a result of July 30 closed-door session between the group and reeve Lou Hall and chief administrative officer (CAO) Leo Ludwig. The information provided had to be brought before council for a decision to be made.
“They heard our proposal in detail and they will be looking at more details of our proposal and getting back to us. That’s all I’m going to say at this point,” said Wendy Batog after the July 30 meeting with Hall and Ludwig, but before the Aug. 2 meeting.
Batog is involved as a board member of the Friends of Tawatinaw Valley group as well as the fundraising coordinator of the Tawatinaw Valley Freeriders ski club.
Batog has also presented to county council on the subject three times in the last year.
“I feel there are some positive feelings. The councillors do show and see that recreation in the county is something that is necessary,” she said, adding she realized council did not make the decision lightly.
There were no formal additions or revisions to the group’s expression of interest, said Ludwig after the Aug. 2 meeting.
“There was a request to look at some other options, that weren’t articulated, just if the county would consider them,” he continued.
Ludwig could not share the details of the in-camera discussion, but the vote coming out of the meeting was to accept the report as information.
“There was no direction to administration for action,” he said.
“Going forward, if someone comes to the county with an offer, or a proposal, obviously the county is going to look at that.”
Council has tasked county staff to research a number of options for future usages of the land and facilities.
“That includes what kind of methods could be used to market the hill for sale. If someone has a proposal that has a sale component to it, obviously we’re going to look at that,” said Ludwig. “In the absence of anything like that we have to come up with some options, or potential options to consider.”
Ludwig mentioned a potential test for aggregate in the area, but stressed that even if a source of aggregate is found that doesn’t necessarily mean council will vote to follow that path.
“It’s more a matter of due diligence, to say ‘Look, we have these properties and before we make any major decisions as to what to do with them, we should have an idea of what’s there’ ... Those parcels of land are owned by the county and when I say county I mean all of the ratepayers. That’s who the county is.”
Following the Aug. 2 meeting, Batog said she understands the county’s position.
“We understand the county is dealing with a difficult financial situation and that is why we have come to the table as a non-profit group to help, with grants, fundraising and volunteers. We want to help turn this into a win-win for the county and for our communities. Once it is gone, it will be almost impossible to get it back,” said Batog.
Friends of Tawatinaw Valley will hold an information and support meeting to keep the hill open Aug. 9 at 7 p.m. at the ski chalet. The club can be contacted at [email protected].
“We encourage everyone interested to attend,” she said.
