THE PAPERWORK continues to flow as My Mountain Co-op takes over operations of the Shames Mountain ski facility from the Shames Mountain Ski Corporation.
On Dec. 21, 2012 the provincial government's forests, lands and natural resources ministry transferred operating agreement for the ski facility lands from the ski corporation to the co-op.
That move followed the payment by the ski corporation to the province of $125,000 to close the books on an unpaid tourism development loan that dates back years.
Paying the $125,000 to wind up the loan was a condition of the operating agreement being assigned to the co-op.
The payment was part of an agreement released last November which cleared the way for the non profit co-op to purchase the ski facility.
The province wrote off the remaining part of the tourism loan, which is approximately $400,000, in return for the $125,000 payment from the ski corporation.
Also owed the province was $130,000 in unpaid royalties and interest, an amount that was reduced to $88,579 when $46,767 in interest was written off by the province.
The co-op agreed to take on the $88,579 debt and will repay it with interest over the next 10 years.
The co-op had paid the ski corporation $360,000 in 2011 to buy the ski facility and has been operating it under a lease pending a resolution of the money owed the province.
Opened in 1990, Shames Mountain struggled to achieve profitability, leaving the owners of the Shames Mountain Ski Corporation dipping into their own pockets to pay expenses.
They listed the mountain for sale several years ago, a move that brought on the formation of the Friends of Shames, the precursor to My Mountain Co-op.