Present: Brad Noble, John Tobin, Carol Pierce, Matt Milan, Meg Schultz, Ron Shems, Matt Lillard, phone in: Leigh Michl (left meeting after Building Projects vote)

Shareholders: John & Gwen Stetson, Peter Hourihan, Britton Rogers, Eli Godwin, Peter Coley

1. Shareholder Comment

5: 00 PM      Call to order, shareholder comments – no comments

1. Consent Agenda Items

Approve minutes for January 18 meeting – with the amendment that Meg Schulz was in attendance by phone..

III.               Reports and Discussion

Management report (Matt): The right amount and type of snow at the right time. We’ve cracked 100” and each storm has hit perfectly. Roll Back the Clock day was a record setting day. We have been doing well on budget each week. February is looking good.

Workers Comp renewal is up.

Expenses are where they should be and revenue is good. If we run on budget our NOI should be strong.

Basebox is strong thus far. Events have been strong. Fish Fry kicked off along with Skiing for Scholars on 2/14 which should add to the revenue.

Events season is starting to ramp up. Local media advertising is picking up to promote the events and upcoming early pass sales.

Considering 3/10 as a Cooperative Ski Day. Estimating ticket price of $26 for any member of a Co-Op.

Mountain ops – lots of good feedback on grooming thus far. We had a demo Prinoth groomer on site for a short time. There will be a plan for summer operations at the March board meeting.

General Store –online sales and margins are up.

Ski School – pre-book for lessons has been very strong. Full both days this weekend.

Freeski Team – many podiums have been gained through the first few competitions this year.

Race Program – full calendar so far and several races have been held thus far. 2^nd leg of the Racing Triple Crown will be on the 22^nd on the race hill with Rockefeller’s Challenge.

Rental Repair – margins are great.

Patrol – still working on uphill route to assess efficacy of uphill routes.

Cricket Club –  Business has been good here.

Finance committee report/see attached (Matthew M.) Numbers are on budget for the year. At the end of January we had a cash balance of $330k, with a rainy day fund of $403k. Estimate has been received for the Basebox & Patrol/Ski School building and been reviewed by the Finance Committee. The FC voted unanimously in favor of endorsing the project budget to the Board of Trustees as recommended by the Facilities Committee.

Expenses are below budget while cash flow is above budget. Day ticket sales are down but season pass sales have been strong, indicating a new trend.

Cash flow is in a good position and it’s not anticipated to have to go into the LOC at all for operations.

Season Pass modeling – focusing on the trends of season pass sales vs historical day tickets over 20 years. There does seem to be a trend regarding the season pass directions over the past few years. The Finance Committee will bring more data forth in the next meeting. Recent industry trends have had ski areas cutting out day ticket sales. The trend at the moment is that demand is either rising or staying strong while supply is decreasing. Noting Powder Mountain and Crystal Mountain who have restricted day tickets.

Discussion of spring pass pricing (Matt): At this point we anticipate using Fall 2019 pricing as the Spring 2020 pricing. Pricing could be additionally influenced by Alterra/Sugarbush/Ikon. It’s anticipated that our core offerings will be sustained as such.

1. Action Items

Update on building projects / Vote to approve building projects capital budget (Matt): The Facilities Committee met on Thursday, 2/13. Ultimately the bids came in close to the estimates. The bid was $3.21m. Base Box estimate is $2.04m and Patrol/Ski School is $547k. Doing both projects concurrently will be less expensive. The difference of doing the projects separately would be estimated to be $60-80k increase on project management alone. The increased costs beyond that would be escalation costs to repeat the process for another year. Estimate 3-4% increase with additional issues created by it (patrol/ski school) becoming a stand-alone project.

The facilities committee additionally considered additional work.

The Co-Op had originally considered contributing $250k. It’s estimated at this point that the Co-Op would be contributing $450k. This is a high estimate regarding contingencies with anticipating lower expenses.

$3.2m is a project cost. This is what MRG will incur for the total project. Included in that is the total construction cost of $2.42m plus project costs, as contracted with Naylor & Breen.

To cover the Co-Op contribution: $150k from the rainy day fund. Up to $300k will need to be financed, either through the existing Line of Credit or through a long term note; those options are to be explored further.

Carol moved to approve the Facilities Committee recommendation that the board approve the Base Box and Patrol/Ski School Buildings as one project at $3.2m to start in April 2020. Matt Milan seconded. The motion was called. Leigh abstained. All others voted in favor.

Ron moved that the Board authorize our GM to enter into contract with Naylor and Breen and others to move forward with the construction of the Base Box and Ski School/Patrol building projects. Meg seconded. Motion carried. Leigh abstained.

Update and vote on slate for 2020 board election. (Ron and  Matthew. Barclay abstained from nominating candidates)

Candidates: In state: Meg Schultz & Barclay Rappeport. Out of State: Andrew Carey & William Coyne. There was discussion regarding the timeline and deadlines required to declare candidacy, submit bios, and the time needed to print and mail ballots. Based on this discussion the deadline will not be extended to accept further candidates.

Ron moved to accept the slate as presented. Matt Milan 2^nd. Meg & Barclay abstained. Leigh was absent for the vote. All others approved. Motion carried.

Review open items & new business

Project to collect & review board policies (Brad and John are actively working on this and will present at the March meeting)

Ways to improve community engagement (Brad is actively working on this and will present at the March meeting)

Review new trustee onboarding procedures (For March meeting)

Forest Plan (To be updated this summer)

Strategic Plan (To be updated by 2020-2021 board)

6:24 PM      Motion to Adjourn John Tobin – Meg 2^nd. Unanimous acceptance.

Manager’s Report 2.15.2020