The attached statement was prepared by Bruce Garrison, Dave Hanna, Gary Stambaugh, Rick Harris, Bruce and Mary Frances Griggs, Chuck Orsborn, Dave Audet, Mark Schultz, and Scott and Betsy Fischer. It was a total group effort and no one person can claim authorship. Collectively this group represents over 565 years of skiing at Eaglecrest and includes past Eaglecrest board members, one board president, former ski patrollers, mountain operations crew advisors, and ski instructors. Many in the group have skied at Eaglecrest every year since it first opened in 1975. We are trying to collect as many signatures to this document before next week's Eaglecrest board meeting on June 6th, 5:30 to 8:00 at Juneau Downtown Library big meeting room.  

Thank you for your consideration of our concerns.

 

Eaglecrest GM Transition and Mitigation Plan 2024-2025 Season

May 28, 2024

 

Introduction:

The goal of this paper is to inform CBJ leaders that the Eaglecrest Board of Directors (EBD’s) opaque action requesting Eaglecrest’s GM resignation and associated transition plan has created negative public discourse.  This discourse is being fueled by an information vacuum, rumor and general anxiety if Eaglecrest will meet its 2024-25 ski season objectives and construction of the area’s gondola.  These concerns are highlighted below. 

The recreational users of Eaglecrest accept that with the GM’s resignation there is a new reality.  The users, EBD, investors and the City Manager and Assembly must coalesce around a strategy to assure the users and general public that Eaglecrest will meet its mission and will not result in additional financial burden on the community at large.   

This paper offers suggestions to facilitate constructive user involvement to reassure Eaglecrest’s recreation users, investors and the public that there will be a smooth transition. A successful transition is essential to meet the 2024-25 ski season and gondola construction schedules despite this sudden turn of events.

Public Perspective:

The Eaglecrest Board of Directors has requested and received the resignation of Eaglecrest’s General City Manager (GM).

The recent EBD announcement of the GM’s resignation also attempts to assure Eaglecrest users and investors that the 2024-25 ski season and construction of the gondola will occur as planned.   This promise is short on facts and fails to instill public confidence that the EBD has a vision, plan and resources for Eaglecrest to thrive during the transition period.     

The CBJ City Manager and the Juneau Assembly’s silence on the GM resignation and ongoing Eaglecrest operations is precipitating rumor laden anxiety about the sustainability of Eaglecrest operations.

Further community concern is attributable to CBJ Ordinance 2024-04 “Establishing Duties of the Tourism Office”.  This Ordinance empowers the City Manager to assign plenary powers for any project “with a substantial relationship with cruise ship originating tourism” to the city Tourism Department.  This includes Eaglecrest and Docks and Harbors.  Before the assignment of duties can occur, the City Manager must inform the Assembly of the City Manager’s planned action.  The Assembly may repeal the City Managers authority on a case-by-case basis.  Since the enactment of this Ordinance 60 days ago, the City Manager has not provided any further explanation how this Ordinance will affect Eaglecrest and the function and duties of the EBD. This information vacuum is igniting user suspicions, aggravated by the GM’s resignation and the City Manager’s failure to explain how the ordinance will impact Eaglecrest.  

There are concerns that the time and cost to replace the GM will result in operational and construction delays leading to operational cost overruns. The EBD, City Manager and Assembly have not offered any explanation how the GM recruitment and transition cost overruns will be managed.

The public has little knowledge of the acting GM’s ski area management qualifications. Consequently, users do not have the confidence that the acting GM has the knowledge and operational skills to lead Eaglecrest during this transition.

Based on Eaglecrest’s previous experience, recruiting Eaglecrest’s GM can be a difficult and lengthy process.  Further, the circumstances of the previous GM’s resignation will be a red flag to potential candidates.

Knowledgeable Eaglecrest advisors are concerned that Eaglecrest is already falling behind permitting, engineering and construction deadlines required to open the gondola in 2025.  Further, knowledgeable users suspect that mission critical equipment, lifts and snowmaking repair and maintenance and securing seasonal employees will not be done in time for the 2024-25 ski season. 

Due to these realities, Eaglecrest users are asking the EBD, City Manager and Assembly to provide a comprehensive plan that assures Eaglecrest users that the area will operate as timely and effectively as under the former GM.  

 

Forward Looking Action Recommendations  

Eaglecrest Board of Directors:

The EBD actions precipitated anxiety among Eaglecrest’s recreational users.  It has an obligation to lead the transition for the operational season and the gondola project, unless EBD duties are truncated by Ordinance 2024-04.   

Calls for resignation of the current EBD members, while understandable, are premature.  The EBD are capable people and would not have made this decision without good cause and a verifiable plan to assure all aspects of Eaglecrest’s mission are met.  

Two EBD member terms expire in June 2024. These members who supported this action should continue their public services duties to oversee the implementation of their transition plan.   

CBJ City Manager and Assembly:

The City Manager and Assembly have not advised the public if they were aware of the EBD action and if they endorse or oppose the action. The City Manager and Assembly’s silence relegates the EBD to be the public’s scapegoat.  Unfortunately for the EBD it cannot speak for the City Manager, or Assembly, about the operating consequences of Ordinance 2024-04 or to commit supplemental funds to weather transition cost overruns.

The City Manager and the Assembly must make their positions clear and publicly renew their commitment to support Eaglecrest, as they have done for almost 50 years.

GM Qualifications, Experience, Recruitment and Authorities 

There is a strong consensus among Eaglecrest users that the area needs a GM with the same hands-on skill sets as the former GM, absent the circumstances that required the EBD to request his resignation.  The GM recruitment must begin immediately given prior experience finding a qualified GM for Eaglecrest.

The recruitment of a new GM is a city human resources matter.  There is a well-established process for hiring the Eaglecrest General City Manager.  

The public needs assurance that the established hiring procedures will be followed.  Further, assurance is needed that temporary positions, such as Eaglecrest’s acting GM, do not become de-facto permanent or that hiring from within occurs without following the established procedures and EBD involvement.  An example of a concern is Ordinance 2024-04: is the City Manager empowered to exert dominion over the hiring of a gondola construction manager?

The new GM must be empowered to operate Eaglecrest, including selection of the GM’s own management team.  Legacy employees are valuable to Eaglecrest’s operation but must be willing to subscribe to the new GM leadership.  If not, the employees should be allowed to transfer to other city departments. 

Eaglecrest Seasonal Operations and Gondola:

Seasonal skiing operations and gondola construction must follow a plethora of unique critical paths.  Failure to recognize critical paths and failure to meet critical path timelines will result in cost overruns and delays in opening the ski season and commencing gondola construction.    

The EBD, Acting GM, and the City Manager should hold frequent public meetings to provide progress reports, remedial actions if delays are expected and assurances that the City Manager and Assembly are committing resources to ensure the Eaglecrest operating season and construction schedule are met.  

Conclusion: 

Successful and sustainable operation of Eaglecrest will not occur if there is dissension among invested parties and if the ECB cannot recruit a GM with substantial ski area management experience.  Behind the scenes dealings or less than transparent actions will aggravate the distrust that the EBD actions participated.  An atmosphere of suspicion, internal or external criticism, and self-serving opposition will only harm Eaglecrest.  

The transition will not be easy.  The EBD, the City Manager and the Assembly all play a critical role assuaging public concerns over the next 12 months.  Transparency, informing the public and allowing public involvement will be the cornerstone of a successful outcome.