Competitive Bids Must For Ski Area

What sort of a ski resort will Mount Spokane be over the next 20 years? The state parks commission has heard loud and clear from the people it serves that major improvements are needed.

The state cannot reasonably count on major improvements from a fine-tuning of its contract with the current operator. Especially when the state has not fostered a robust competition for the right to operate the downhill ski area.

The current operator’s contract expires this summer. The Mt. Spokane Skiing Corp. hopes to win the contract again. The company submitted the only bid last year when the state asked for proposals.

The 20-year duration of that contract, coupled with the level of public dissatisfaction with the current contractor’s performance, rightly made the state pause.

So, the state for a second time invited other parties interested in running the ski area to submit proposals. As of last Friday at least two groups had and they now await evaluation.

One proposal came from Mount Spokane 2000, a group of skiers who led the way in criticizing the current contractor’s services. Their proposal is for a non-profit corporation, organized by and for a full range of ski area users. On paper, there is appeal in an operator that would retain no profits and plow all net receipts into improvement of the facility.

And yes, there also would be appeal to private entrepreneurs, with market incentives to compete for the area’s increasingly demanding skiers.

The state has got to take whatever time is necessary to assure itself, and the public, a few strong choices before it makes another long-term commitment.

Mount Spokane’s full potential as a ski area has not been realized, as the years of consumer complaints attest. This location is too precious to waste. For evidence of what might lie in the future, the state should consider what happened when a determined corps of volunteers gradually constructed a network of cross-country ski trails at Mount Spokane. Today the trails are a huge success.

What would happen if a non-profit skiers’ organization or a new, competitive entrepreneur went to work on Mount Spokane’s downhill skiing potential?

The state deserves praise for extending its search for a ski hill operator. But Mount Spokane 2000 has made disturbing claims that the state lacks enough financial information to evaluate the current contractor and has denied would-be bidders the data they need to assemble competitive proposals.

At least there is now an appearance of competition. The parks commission has a duty to make the competition real.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Webster/For the editorial board