BY CRAIG GILBERT
Mayor David Courtemanche is meeting with Ward 6 councillors and a group of people who want to reopen Adanac Ski Hill.
He said today?s meeting will be an opportunity to hear from those interested in reopening the hill.
Adanac was closed along with Barrydowne and Falconbridge arenas and the R. D. Dow Pool as a result of spending cuts by the former city council.
Members of local Rotary clubs, which developed the Rotary Park adjacent to the ski hill, and members of local ski groups are expected to attend the meeting.
He has assembled a task force to study the short and long-term operations of Adanac.
Ward 6 Councillor Janet Gasparini said all recreational facility closures need to be looked at again.
She also said she hopes more citizens will take part in the upcoming budget process, which is to include many more public input sessions than in years past.
If there had been more public input into the 2003 budget process, the city?s recreation situation might be different today.
?The community would have told council closing arenas is somewhere you don?t go,? said Gasparini.
The original rationalization of services form for Adanac in the 2003 budget indicated the hill needed more than $1.5 million in capital investments including a new ski lift.
The city is now considering purchasing a used system for about $100,000, and budget documents indicate the
other capital improvements needed could be done for around $225,000.
A staff report indicated the hill would have cost $237,969 to operate in 2003-04, and would bring in $113,523 in revenue.
According to city staff, 8,000 lift tickets were sold in 2002, and about 15,000 people use the city?s ski hills every
season.
