Mountain View County continues the search for a new operator for Westward Ho Campground after council rejected one prospect.
Chief administrative officer Tony Martens was authorized by council to try to hash out an agreement with a new operator, but a deal couldn’t be reached because they were looking for a long-term lease in the range of 30 years.
“The county just did not want to get into a long-term lease at this point in time,” said Martens.
Last fall, the municipality announced it was looking at getting out of the campground business and directed staff to investigate the potential for selling off the 450-site facility eight km east of Sundre as early as 2013.
A five-year contract with the previous operator expired at the start of the year.
Administration was directed to find someone willing to take on a two-year contract to operate the popular campground. In the meantime, the campground was going to be changed from a year-round operation into a seasonal facility, from May to September.
But a request for proposals that went out in November called for operators to take on a two-year contract to run the campground year-round.
Martens said whether it’s a seasonal or full-year operation is among the issues that will be discussed with a new operator.
A group of campground users has shown interest in taking on the job.
Martens said the county wants to get moving on settling the operation question.
“The time line is critical right now because camping starts in May.
“So we’d like to have someone in place for the start of the camping season.”
Council wants to run the campground because it was losing money except in the best years, when it broke even. In poor years, the county had to subsidize it up to $40,000. Since the municipality owned it, the county was also not getting property taxes.
pcowley@www.reddeeradvocate.com