Friday, August 9, 2013

Best Western saga continues

Two things when you read the story below keep in mind that to balance the books this year council had to increase franchise fees by $200,000+ and cancel a $100,000 contribution to the seniors reserves.

Courtesy of the Pass Herald:

 Lisa Sygutek
Pass Herald staff
At the July 16th council meeting, a presentation was provided by Mr. Chris Vachon of the Vachon Group stating Medican’s failure to complete the Sale and Construction Agreement for a hotel. At the Special Meeting of Council held on July 22nd further information was provided relative to the application submitted and approved to the Vachon Group by Best Western International. A resolution from council at this meeting included the municipality reimbursing the Vachon group the value of the application fee and to work with the Vachon Group in moving forward with the hotel development. Having the application remain in place would mean that the franchise approval for the development of the Best Western Plus would be formalized with a two-year window to construct the hotel. There was a resolution at the meeting to re-tender the former Crowsnest Centre site demolition so as to put the municipality in a more favourable position to initiate development on the site.
Although council approved the reimbursement to Vachon it was not identified from where the funding would be sourced.
Councillor Lonsbury then made the following motion: “That the $50,000 application fee to be paid to the Vachon Group as reimbursement for the Best Western Plus application fee be taken from the Municipal Land Reserve account. 
Councillor Gallant wanted it clarified that, “we are just voting on the funding source. Is there interest in someone who wants to buy some of the land?”. CAO Myron Thompson responded, “yes, there is a buyer for a portion who wants to move ahead”.
Concillor Saindon asked, “ is there a copy of the memorandum of understanding and has it been signed by the Vachon Group and will council see the memorandum of understanding”. An answer was not provided.
Councillor Saje questioned, “I’m not going to be voting in favour of this”. He noted that he was able to get additional information from Jeff Carlson CAO of Clay Cup Developers who were working with Medican prior to Group Vachon coming on board. He stated that Mr. Carlson told him that in the development industry, the Municipality does not typically put up the funding to secure a hotel franchise. He noted, “according to Mr. Carlson, these funds are put up by the developer”. Saje also noted that in securing the Best Western franchise name could have also been done by Clay Cup Developments or other Best Western approved developers. Saje said this was contrary to what Thompson had informed council at the special meeting on July 22nd. “I was under the impression at our special council meeting that if we did not decide that day to go with Best Western that the Best Western trade name will not be on the table for Crowsnest Pass”. Saje explained, “two parts stood out to me during my conversation with Carlson. In the Development Industry communities usually do not put up the development fee. It should flash a red flag”.
Gallant agreed that it was not normal for municipalities to put up the funding, but, "It was made clear that, when the applicant submitted his proposal that, it would not continue with every developer, ahh, yes any developer could have applied for that, however Clay Cup was fired from the project, let's remember that as well. They were fired from the project, because they did nothing. They did absolutely nothing. It was my understanding. They came on board, they led them along for several months, that was one of the long delays we had on this project. So I appreciate the comments from Mr Carlson but I don't hold them in very high regard."
Saje informed council that he did not know Clay Cup was fired in November, but rather pulled out of the agreement and that Vachon Group did not come on board until spring.
Mayor Decoux stated that the rest of council was aware that Clay Cup was released by Medican.
Gallant noted, “we are not determining whether we should do it, but rather the funding requirement”. We made that decision. “I don’t hold Mr. Carlson with very high regard. He was fired.” 
Saje felt that there is a huge conflict of information when talking to Carlson and the information he has received from administration and for that reason he would vote against the motion.
In an interview with Jeff Carlson he noted that, “Medican wanted me to partner with them, but after looking in to the feasibility study I decided not to join. I looked at the feasibility study and did not think it was done well at all. “I check out feasibility reports all the time, I’m not an amateur and the report was amateurish, a waste of money”. He further stated, Council is part of the reason I decided to not work with this community. I wasn’t too impressed with council. The fact that they are spending $50,000 to get a Best Western flag is ridiculous”.
Saindon asked for a recorded vote with the motion passed 6-4 with Saidon and Saje opposed, Councillor Gail was not present at the meeting. 

Note: Cost of administration $4325 per day

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Councillor Saje was absolutely right to demand an accounting of how much was spent by the municipality, to date, on pursuit of this hotel development.

How can they make decisions if they are not aware what was spent up to date on this project? Who paid for the open house for the developer? Normally, if a project has business merit, the developer holds their own open house.

This council holds itself as being more professional and policy driven than any other council that came before them. Yet, it appears when it comes to taxpayers dollars, they are flying by the seat of their pants.

Anonymous said...

Who's on First Base? Gong show for sure.

Anonymous said...

With marginal business sense and lack of foresight, it's a good thing this council was not in place during the last term or we would have coughed up over $1 mil to 'secure' a water supply to Crowsnest Lake thus guaranteeing a $4 billion dollar development; and just because they thought it was imperative to our future prosperity.

Like a lot of issues, this one, if there existed any wisdom, should have been left alone.

Anonymous said...

It sure looks like the Mayor and the CAO, and maybe even councilor Gallant who seems to know more than the rest of them, have not been sharing all the information with the rest of the council.

Anonymous said...

Have you looked at one of your fellow bloggers page. Kumbaya Kumbaya- Everybody loves him.

Anonymous said...

08:22:00
They might not "love" him, grow up. Maybe people are just looking for an alternative from somebody that we already know where their alliances lie.
Always nice to have options.

Anonymous said...

So now that we are only two months away from the election I see that Mr Gallant as decided to re open the lines of communication in the blogging world. Now he as clarified that all is good in the fire/rescue world and that we are definitely, for sure, absolutely, maybe, hopefully and if all else fails the Insurance companies will be shamed into giving us premium breaks. I feel good.

I hope is next post will clarify his statements that are in the post above. Maybe he was mis quoted? Maybe this Carlson fellow doesn't know what he is talking about?

You know when you make a mistake or two that's human when it becomes a way of life. God help us dumb asses that are paying the bills.

Brian there is no credibility left.

Anonymous said...

Brian suddenly pops up out of his hole after a five month absence. We know it's election time.
How did the old Who song go "we won't get fooled again"


Anonymous said...

Mr Carlson sure speaks highly of our council doesn't he?

Anonymous said...

Obviously Saje knows a different story than the rest of these guys. Hopefully Andrew is going to share his experiences with the rest of the public.

Different subject I will be calling my Insurance company tomorrow to see how many premiums will be affected.

Brian

Anonymous said...

Medican deal was a big waste of taxpayers dollars. The last $50,000 is just icing on the cake. Only one councilor showed some interest in how much money was wasted on this deal. Good bet neither of the councilors have any clue about the true cost of this fiasco.

Anonymous said...

your blog title makes it sound like Mr. Gallant won a famous tennis match.

congratulations councillor!

Crowsnest Pass Home said...

11:28 your right I will change the title.

Anonymous said...

Man this is one twisted tale. I wonder how Mr Carlson feels about the Crowsnest Pass?

Anonymous said...

"In an interview with Jeff Carlson he noted that ..."

It's not clear to me from the wording - did the Herald interview Carlson, or are they quoting Saje?

Anonymous said...

"this is one twisted tale. I wonder how Mr Carlson feels about the Crowsnest Pass?"

Seems like it's along the lines as to be so angry that he was willing to make a presentation that was not solicited. Seems like he is really cheesed! And still he was rebuffed. No one criticized his record of past development success. What gives?

Anonymous said...

Ever wonder if maybe other reputable and successful developers may just be slightly in touch with Jeff Carlson's endeavours and experiences?

Yes, we may have established this earned rebranding for free.

Anonymous said...

What I don't get is this statement in the press release:

"The Vachon Group, who is still the official applicant for the hotel development, intends to continue working with Crowsnest Pass on the complex."

How did Group Vachon get "official" status if Medican was the sole proponent to the RFP? CNP had no official dealings with Group Vachon prior to the BW franchise deal. Who wrote this press release telling us the thinking of "Council" when there had been no (official, public) meetings of Council in the interim? Have these clowns forgotten they have a Municipal Inspector looking over their shoulders?

Anonymous said...

Does anybody know when we can expect the municipal inspector report?

Anonymous said...

9:58 -
Two weeks ago they were looking into the hotel project.

Anonymous said...

It is up to us to throw this council out and re-establish a semblance of fiscal responsibility. A small community does not need, or can afford, all this high priced consulting fees. $100,000 from senior housing reserves and $50,000 for what? A $160,000 + per year CAO and a PR consultant to write press releases and help with open houses for developers? Who is in charge of this taxpayer funded circus?