BRUCE MOUND SUPPORTER "DISAPPOINTED" BY COUNTY'S DECISION
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011 -- 10:28 AM
A member of an organization of Bruce Mound supporters says he was ?disappointed? with the Clark County Forestry and Parks committee?s recent decision to not operate the facility next winter.Keith Miatke of the rural Neillsville says the Friends of Bruce Mound helped raise around $1-million in private donations to help the skiing and tubing hill expand.
"It's really changed," Miatke says of the facility. "We've got a new chairlift. We've got additional trails. There are more being planned, but everything is on hold at this point."
The facility, which has been county-run since 1960, also has a new chalet and increased snow-making capability.
Interim Forestry and Parks Administrator Rick Dailey told Central Wisconsin Broadcasting News on Tuesday that the best case scenario would be if FOBM agreed to lease the hill from the county.
Miatke says his group is considering that option, but it might be a difficult.
"Initially, the first year, how are we going to have enough money to get going in the first year? We're going to have to have some kind of line of credit at the start and we're going to have some ongoing donations, probably, if we're going to continue to make improvements out there," Miatke says. "I think that is something we can move forward with."
And then there?s insurance. Miatke says insurance will cost The Friends a lot more than it costs the county.
Miatke says the $22,000 deficit the county incurred in 2010 could have been easily solved by raising lift tickets by a dollar, but the county?s been reluctant to do so.
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