At their inaugural meeting today the new Revelstoke City Council decided not to hire the staff recommended contractor to take over the maintenance and operation of Williamson Lake Park & Campground.
After going through the Request for Proposal process, Cedar & Spruce Consulting received the highest score and city staff drew up an agreement with them for the three year contract, however city council defeated the motion to enter into the agreement.
Councillors Nicole Cherlet and Mike Brooks-Hill voted in favour, councillors Rob Elliott, Steve Cross, Jackie Rhind and Cody Younker voted against. Mayor Gary Sulz was in favour of the motion.
This leaves Williamson Lake without a caretaker as the current contract is done at the end of the year and the city cannot legally extend that contract.
“By turning this down now this means that we, the taxpayer, have to foot the bill for the foreseeable future,” said Sulz.
As going through the Request for Proposal process a second time would not provide council with different results, according to Allan Chabot, CAO for the city, he suggested that council should sit down and discuss the future of the park.
“It seems as though council might be desirous of going in a different direction with respect to Williamson Lake,” he said.
Elliott agreed, asking about the upgrades to the park that were discussed in 2016.
READ MORE: Final site plan presented for Williamson Lake
“Making the decision for another term seems rushed at this point,” he said.
However, Laurie Donato, director of Parks, Recreation & Culture said that the improvement planning process can be ongoing while a caretaker is in place.
“The improvement plan for Williamson Lake will not happen next year, it’s a budget process that it has to go through, but we still need someone to operate the campground.”
The city issued the RFP on Sept. 13, 2018 and three businesses submitted proposals: Cedar & Spruce Consulting, Revelstoke Resort Shuttle Ltd. and Hyeum Properties Ltd.
The proposals were evaluated based on:
- experience and qualifications (30 points)
- proposed equipment list (15 points)
- pricing (15 points)
- level to which the proposal meets the city’s objectives and quality of the proposal (10 points)
For a score out of 100.
Cedar & Spruce Consulting had the highest score. The current caretaker, Revelstoke Resort Shuttle Ltd. was a close second.
The contract drawn up by city staff stipulates a revenue sharing arrangement in which the city receives 15 per cent of the gross revenue, excluding tax, for the initial three year contract and 16 per cent if the contract is renewed for the additional two years.
In 2017, the city received almost $29,000 from the agreement, Donato said.
While the city maintains the exterior of the buildings and tree maintenance, the day to day maintenance and the operation of the campground is the caretaker’s responsibility.
The city owns the signage and the buildings, but the caretaker provides the capital infrastructure which at the moment includes the mini-golf, the fire pits, the picnic tables as well as the reception area and the office building, all of which will be removed during the change of caretakers.
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jocelyn.doll@revelstokereview.com
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