VIC reopens for summer season
ST. REGIS – The St. Regis Visitor Information Center officially re-opened its doors Memorial Day weekend for another summer season.
The VIC is open seasonally until Labor Day weekend. Tourists or any traveler wishing to obtain information about Montana or Mineral County can stop off I-90 in St. Regis. The VIC is located on US-135 behind Subway.
The VIC is operating in conjunction with the St. Regis Community Council and is funded entirely through a $3,500 grant from Glacier Country Tourism, which is a state branch. The grant has not funded the visitor center in prior years, according to Glenn Koepke, board member of the community council.
The money covers all the related aspects of operation, ranging from building cost, utilities and funds to pay one employee on staff.
Although the grant provides some funding to the VIC, St. Regis and Mineral County volunteers mostly operate the center. The unpaid volunteers greet people and pass out requested materials pertaining to Montana and Mineral County.
“Amy Cheesman is this year’s manager and husband George Cheesman also works there along with a few other part-time folks,” Koepke said. George operates a small computer business in the same building during the offseason and pays some rent to contribute to the VIC, according to Koepke.
Additional monies may be available after the June 9 resort board meeting, which will determine much of their funding, although this is not a guarantee of that additional monies will be available.
If any is granted, it won’t happen until after their fiscal year in July, according to Koepke.
“There are other requests and some of the resort board members don’t support the VIC,” Koepke said. “If we don’t find enough funding to run through Labor Day, we’ll default on the Glacier Country grant and will have to repay it.”
As long as the VIC doesn’t dip into the grant, it can just be sent back to Glacier Country. However, if the VIC uses all of the money, the establishment will have to find and secure funds to return the money based on the stipulation given to them.
Koepke said part of the grant was contingent on the VIC staff attending the SuperHost training June 10 in Superior. The course is design to provide people with training and techniques for dealing with customers in the service industry. Customer complaints are something that is targeted in the training.
“We built the VIC at the request of the state and they funded staffing for nearly 20 years prior to last year,” Koepke said.
The VIC is intended to operate like any state information center. Montana no longer funds the St. Regis VIC, but Mineral County residents want it to remain open. The center is then forced to seek funding from elsewhere.
If no funding is found, the VIC would likely have to shut its doors early before Labor Day.
The St. Regis Visitor Information Center is open everyday 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. The phone number is 649-2290.