Community support needed to save hill

Al McDonald announces members of the Save Our Ski Hill Committee during a news conference today at Jack Pine Hill. Photo by Phil Novak.
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The North Bay community has to “stand up and take ownership” of Jack Pine Hill if the ski facility is to remain a viable entity, says Al McDonald, chairman of a new committee which wants to lease the hill from the North Bay-Mattawa Conservation Authority and run it during the upcoming season.

McDonald unveiled the members of Save Our Ski Hill during a news conference this morning at Jack Pine Hill.

Tim Robb, the owner of Can-Blast, Kelly McCarthy, general manager of Motion Canada’s North Bay operations, insurance adjuster Reno Daigle and retired businessman John Richardson will work with McDonald on the ">Your Link Text Herecampaign to save the hill for the community.

Forever
The SOSH committee is setting up a not-for-profit corporation to oversee the operation of the ski hill, which it plans to lease, along with all relevant facilities, from the North Bay Mattawa Conservation Authority.

It would be run completely independent of the authority.

SOSH came together this summer after a request for proposals to run Jack Pine drew not a single response. Coun. Dave Mendicino approached McDonald to head the committee, and the former Nipissing MPP accepted after mulling the offer over for a few days, he said.

“We know that if it closes, chances are it will close forever. It has lost over $500,000 over the last four or five years,” McDonald said.

“We are the only ski hill in the centre of any city in North America and we need the community to stand up and take ownership of the ski hill, and we have about a year to turn it around.”

Break even
But there are challenges ahead, McDonald admitted.

“Right now there’s a stop-work order on the hill on the lifts, so we have to fix that, but it’s going to take us about $600 thousand to complete the year, and that’s a lot of money,” McDonald said, adding the committee needs $200,000 by December “before we even open the doors.”

North Bay city council has committed $150,000 in principle, contingent upon seeing SOSH’s business plan.

“So we have to raise almost another $500,000 on top of that through sponsorships, and through selling season passes and memberships just to break even,” McDonald said.

“We’ve done a budget up for this coming year, but it all depends on community support if we can keep the hill open after this year. There’s no question it will work if the community comes on board.”

Campaign logo
Further budget details will be released within the next few weeks, McDonald said, and the committee has also planned a presentation for city council.

McDonald said SOSH has already received help from North Bay businesses, which are providing legal, accounting, advertising, marketing, promotion and technical expertise.

"What we've received this way has already saved us at least $50,000," McDonald said.

A campaign logo and slogan were unveiled and a web site was launched, where details about the effort to reopen the hill for this season can be found.

McDonald said SOSH intends to use the web site as a medium to communicate the project’s progress with the community "and to receive feedback and suggestions also.”

Future of skiing
The group is actively seeking additional volunteers to assist with fundraising, sponsorship, season pass sales, and a number of other tasks.

“We encourage anybody who is interested in the future of skiing in North Bay to visit the web site and sign up to help us," Richardson said.

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