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City to partner with Tourism Fernie to provide ski shuttle
City of Fernie council Jan. 14 unanimously agreed to begin the steps to forge a partnership with Fernie Tourism in order to provide a shuttle service to Fernie Alpine Resort from town. If finalized, the city will pay $50,000 this year, with options for the agreement to be extended to cover the 2013/14 and 2014/15 ski seasons at the discretion of the city.
Funding for the winter day and evening shuttle service, which will be provided by Mountain High Adventures Inc., comes from the province’s Resort Municipality Initiative and the service is an approved project in the Fernie and Area Resort Development Strategy.
Along with the city’s funding, Tourism Fernie will provide $75,000 to the service.
According to the agreement, Mountain High Adventures Inc. is obliged to provide shuttle service between Fernie Alpine Resort, West Fernie and the City of Fernie between Dec. 21 (2012) and April 14, making a minimum of four round trips in the morning (beginning at 8 a.m.) and four round trips in the afternoon, ending at 5 p.m. Additionally, they will be required to provide a minimum of six round trips each evening, starting at 5:30 p.m. and ending at 11:30 p.m., until April 1.
The service will operate with a bus with a minimum capacity of 24 passengers.
While council members were unanimous in wanting to partner with Tourism Fernie, some openly questioned the absence of Fernie Alpine Resort’s participation in the funding equation.
Coun. Randal Macnair, offering “kudos” to Tourism Fernie for “leading the charge” in the process, said he is disappointed that Resorts of the Canadian Rockies “didn’t come to the table. That is unfortunate and hopefully they will in the future.”
Coun. Dan McSkimming agreed. “Amen to that,” he stated. “It’s like pulling teeth to get what we did get. They need to ante up.”
A complete copy of the proposed partnering agreement can be viewed at the office of the undersigned at City Hall, 501 3rd Avenue, during regular business hours.
2013-01-14 Report to Council
Partnering Agreement
Ian Cobb/e-KNOW
