St. Regis VIC up and running in spite of funding issues

Glenn Koepke of the St. Regis Community Council was on hand during the public comment portion of the county commissioner meeting to inform the commissioners about the current state of the St. Regis Visitor’s Information Center.

Koepke told the commissioners that for a couple of weeks the VIC has been open and staffed in spite of the lack of state funding.

“We had a little bit of carry-over money and we were really leery to spend it without knowing we had some coming in but we had to keep things going,” Koepke said. “That’s why we had volunteers on Memorial Day weekend – I just drafted some volunteers to have it open.”

After Memorial Day weekend, Koepke said the VIC was shut down until a commitment from the St. Regis Resort Board could confirm it would help fund it.

“It’s working,” Koepke said. “We have a handful of people taking their turns working and the public is really appreciative.”

With the community council and resort board Koepke said the VIC is “doing ok” and the fact that it is open at all is a step in the right direction from where things were in November.

On Nov. 29 the community council received a contract from the state regarding the St. Regis Visitors Information Center.

According to Kopke, the contract regards the furnishings in the VIC that were supplied by the state when it first opened and states that the community council would be responsible in the event of any damage.

“We were a little surprised to get this contract, this nitty-gritty contract that pretty much says if they determine there has been damage the community council would be liable for replacement and repairs,” Koepke said. “It just seems a little too legalistic to us, it doesn’t seem too friendly, and we don’t know if that’s backlash from the stink we’ve been making to the state or what.”

During the Nov. 27 meeting of the community council, Koepke said members debated whether or not to sign the contract but will take no action on the matter until the Dec. meeting.

“The community is pretty upset,” Koepke said. “It’s like they are pulling the rug out from underneath us.”

Kopke asked the county commissioners for advice with regards to the contract with the state and Commissioner Roman Zylawy asked whether or not the contract also touched on the funding issues.

“This is strictly for the furnishings,” Koepke said.

Commissioner Zylawy followed up by asking if there is any “downside” to the contract and Kopke responded there is a fear the state will show up for an inspection and “tear us a new one” if any scratches are found.

“I’m in favor of just signing it because I think it is such a minor thing in the big state picture,’ Koepke said.

“They aren’t going to come out to St. Regis and micromanage that. It’s just a little bit of reluctance.”

Both Commissioner Zylawy and Commissioner Duane Simons agreed that signing the contract would not be harmful.

“I don’t think you could get hurt too bad signing it,” Commissioner Simons said.

Koepke said the plan is for the VIC to still be up and running next season.

“We still don’t have adequate funding to open next year but we think that if we shrink the season and find some outside funding we can still make it work,” Koepke said. “We are planning on it, we just don’t have all the pieces yet.”