Mad River Glen
Cooperative
Board of Trustees
Meeting
Minutes –
Saturday, March 15th, 2008
Draft – Pending
Review
After due notice, a Board of Trustees meeting of the Mad
River Glen Cooperative was convened at 5:07 p.m. on Saturday, March 15th,
2008 on the third floor of the Basebox at Mad River Glen Ski Area (“MRG”) in Fayston, Vermont.
Trustees Jay Appleton, Paul Finnerty, Geordie Hall, Steve
Mackenzie (departed at 6:10 p.m.), Eric Schoenholz
(phone), Bill Reynolds, Rick Moulton, and Jed Kalkstein were present. Lars Bruns was
absent. Also present was President Jamey
Wimble, Board Candidates Betsy Jondro, Bruce Button
and approximately ten shareholders.
CALL TO ORDER:
Jay Appleton, chair, called the meeting to order at 5:07
p.m.
REVIEW OF MINUTES:
Trustee Hall moved to accept the minutes of February 9, 2008
and Trustee Reynolds seconded the motion.
The trustees approved the February 9th minutes without
changes by a vote of 7-0. Trustee Hall
complimented the Secretary on the timely completion of the minutes.
OPENING SHAREHOLDER COMMENTARY:
Shareholder Vivian Branchofsky
commented that the mountain staff had done an excellent grooming. Shareholder Betsy Jondro
commended management and staff for getting the mountain back in shape after the
recent ice storm.
MANAGEMENT REPORT (Jamey Wimble):
President Wimble presented the management report. The ice storm on March 8th
required that Single be shut down due to ice accumulation but staff were able to get the double running by 9:45 a.m. Mad River fared better than Sugarbush, which
only had one of its lower mountain lifts running. On February 12 an ice jam in the stream
caused a flood in the base area. Water
poured into the bottom floor of the basebox. Staff from all departments chipped in to help
clean up. Due to the high deductible on
the Coop’s flood insurance, no claim was made.
President Wimble noted that the worker’s comp insurance was
going to have a large increase due to the experience mod going up but the
liability insurance premium would go down due to the mountain’s excellent track
record.
President Wimble reported that the Coop has sold 5 shares
for the month of February and 21 year to date.
Trustee Schoenholz asked if there were
any additional requests for redemption.
President Wimble responded that there has only been one new redemption
request this year.
Trustee Mackenzie asked whether, given the amount of snow
still on the mountain, there were any marketing strategies directed at raising
revenue by milking the end of the year.
President Wimble responded that the issue in the spring season was not
so much the amount of snow but the lack of skiers. He advised that the mountain would be looking
to reduce costs by running only the Single chair on weekdays and the Single and
the double on weekends. Birdland is done
for the season. Trustee Moulton
commented that keeping the mountain open later this spring will generate good
will and help us sell passes this fall.
Trustee Mackenzie noted that Bolton
was currently offering steeply discounted seasons passes for next year and
wondered if this was something we should consider. President Wimble responded that this type of
strategy usually indicated a cash flow problem and would likely result in a
significant loss in revenues from pass sales overall.
Trustee Reynolds questioned if the increase in the worker’s
comp insurance was due to any particular type of injuries and whether there was
something we could do to cut down on injuries.
President Wimble responded that the injuries were all over the board and
that there was no discernable pattern.
He said that the Coop’s worker’s comp carrier was working with the
various departments in an attempt to prevent injuries.
Bob Rogers commented that he has observed three lift
attendants at the base of the Single and wondered if the mountain could cut
down on personnel to save money.
President Wimble responded that one of these attendants was probably the
roamer who is assigned to relieve the lift operators assigned to the Single and
at this point we will be cutting back on staff.
FINANCIAL REPORT (Jamey Wimble):
President Wimble reported that the Coop was looking to come
in with a $150,000
to $200,000 profit for the season.
Trustee Hall commented that a number of expenses were well
over budget. President Wimble responded
that the Coop experienced a number of unbudgeted expenses including two weeks
of operation in December, increases in plowing, sanding, electricity and food
prices. It was noted that the February
expenses for the basebox were 40% over budget. President Wimble advised that he would be
working with Mike Witzel to try and get a handle on the basebox
expenses.
It was noted that the yield on day tickets was under
budget. Trustee Moulton commented that
management should keep the low yield on day tickets in mind when setting ticket
prices for next year. President Wimble
advised that the yield on day tickets was up compared to last year.
The trustees discussed the effect that comp tickets had on
day ticket yields. Trustee Schoenholz noted that the comp tickets are not a big
influence on yields (about $2.50 in yield overall) and he felt that the Mad
Cards had a far greater influence on ticket yields. Trustee Schoenholz recommended looking at the
pricing model to increase the yields for next year. Trustee Kalkstein noted that he would
be surprised if we did not see an increase in day ticket prices next season.
Trustee Moulton urged management to hold the line on season pass prices.
Trustee Hall asked about the projected profit of $150 –
200K. President Wimble responded that he
expected the profit to come in closer to $150K depending on the amount of Mad
Card breakage.
Betsy Jondro noted that Basebox
revenue was up but that expenses were up also, she asked whether management was
considering raising prices in the Basebox.
President Wimble responded that management will have to look a food
prices. He noted that the revenue split
between the bar and cafeteria is currently 50/50, whereas before the cafeteria
would bring in far more revenue.
Trustee Finnerty asked for an
explanation of the Basebox cost increases.
President Wimble responded that the increases were largely due to
increases in food prices and wages.
Bob Rogers commented that the bar and restaurant seem to be
understaffed on weekends.
Lu Putnam suggested that management look into painting the
roof on the office. She also noted that
the restrooms are usually dirty and she hoped that they will be painted and
that the ceiling down stairs will be fixed.
Trustee Schoenholz concurred with
Bob Rogers’ comment about the Basebox being understaffed. He noted that ski school and rental and
repair shop numbers are way up and that the Basebox is not keeping up with
skier visits. Vivian Branchofsky commented that
another waitress would really help.
Trustee Hall commented that Mike
Witzel is doing a fantastic job and has really worked hard this year to improve
the food and beverage service.
SHARE REDEMPTION SUSPENSION (Trustee Schoenholz):
The shareholder redemption policy was left
unchanged. One share per month will be
redeemed. Trustee Appleton stated that he hoped that the rate
of redemption can be increased.
SINGLE CHAIR CAMPAIGN UPDATE (Trustee Hall):
Trustee Hall mentioned that the campaign has reached the $1.54M
mark and, with what is in the pipeline, the campiagn
is only $45k short of the 1.65 M goal, which we hope to reach by the
annual meeting. He reminded everyone
that there are only 20 chairs left for sponsorship and he encouraged anyone who
was interested in sponsoring a chair to contact the office as soon as
possible. Trustee Hall thanked everyone
for their donations and support.
Trustee Hall reported that a survey
was done of the tower donors and that 15 of 16 of the donors were satisfied
with the location of the plaques, but 3 of those were okay with the placement
but would prefer a different location and 1 donor was dissatisfied with the
present location of the plaque. Trustee
Hall advised that in order to be viewed without interference with the operation
of the lift, the Ski Patrol and SMF/PTV plaques would be moved. Trustee Hall stated that the Single Chair
Campaign Committee had looked into the plaque placement issue and recommended
that the current policy should stand.
Trustee Hall recommended that a plaque containing lists of Chair and Tower donors be placed
in the Basebox. Trustee Mackenzie
commented that this was a great idea because 30 years from now people would be
interested in reading the names of the shareholders who made donations to save
the Single chair. Trustee Kalkstein
disagreed and stated that there are too many plaques around the Basebox. He suggested that the lists of donors be
posted on the website.
Fritz Branchofsky
asked what the level of default on donations was for the campaign. Trustee Hall responded that the level of
default was minimal. Trustee Schoenholz stated that there was currently $9,504 owed on
pledges. He noted that this was a
very low percentage of default.
Vivian Branchofsky noted that many
of the numbers had come off of the chairs and asked if the numbers were going
to be painted on the chairs. President
Wimble responded that the engineers at Dopplemey
C-Tec are working on this.
ANNUAL CAPITAL PLAN (ACTION)
President Wimble presented the Annual Capital Plan. He requested that the Board vote to approve
Tier 1 expenditures and revisit Tier 2 expenditures at a later date. The Board discussed the various proposed
expenditures in the capital plan.
President Wimble noted that Sugarbush was selling two Pisten Bully snow groomers at a very good price ($20 – 30k
less than a new machine) and that we had until June of this year to
decide. The Board debated the merits of
purchasing one of the machines as a replacement for the Co-op’s older groomer and it was decided that discussion the purchase
should be tabled until a later date.
Trustee Hall moved to approve the proposed Tier 1
expenditures of $95,800 and Trustee Schoenholz
seconded the motion. The trustees
approved the motion by a vote of 7-0.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Executive Committee
- Trustee Appleton
reported that the executive committee approved one hardship request for share
redemption.
Personnel Committee-
Trustee Appleton reported that the personnel committee has been working on the
performance evaluation of the President & General Manager.
CLOSING SHAREHOLDER COMMENTS
Fritz Branchofsky asked how the
refurbished Single chair was working out.
President Wimble responded that generally the Single Chair has been
working very well but that there has been one small leak in the gearbox that
the engineers will look at this summer.
There has also been a vibration in the cable just after the mid-station
that the engineers know about but there is nothing wrong from a safety
standpoint. They will look to reduce the
vibration by stiffening up the hold-down tower.
Trustee Appleton
commented that the Single chair ride is now 10 minutes top to bottom at a speed
of 575 feet per minute. He noted that
our Single chair is the fastest fixed grip lift in North
America.
Dave Prescott commented that there is rebar sticking out
2-3” from the tower foundations.
President Wimble responded that management would be looking into this.
Lu Putnam commented that new stairs are needed in the
Birdcage.
EXECUTIVE SESSION (PERSONNEL):
Trustee Reynolds moved that the Board go into executive
session and Trustee Moulton seconded the motion. The motion passed 7-0 and the Board went into
executive session.
Trustee Hall addressed the Board at the beginning of the
Executive Session and then recused himself.
ADJOURNMENT:
Trustee Moulton made a motion to adjourn the meeting,
seconded by Trustee Appleton. The
meeting was adjourned after a 6-0 vote to adjourn at 8:20 pm.
Respectfully submitted, William Reynolds
A true record.
Attest:
_________________________________
Lars Bruns, Secretary
