‘Nuclear option’: Gunstock management team resigns | Local News

“We just did that to be more consistent with the way other delegations and committees work,” Ness explained.

To Day and apparently the rest of the Gunstock management team, this was a bridge too far.

“I’d like to tender my resignation and give my two weeks notice. I’ll be happy to facilitate whatever I can do,” Day said. “It seems there’s a lot more control that wants to come from your side of it so I feel that my role here is diminished.”

After Day resigned, one by one, the other members of the Gunstock management team followed suit, and left the building.

The following staff members resigned: Tom Day, president and general manager; Cathy White, chief financial officer; Robin Rowe, director of resort services; Peter Weber, snow sports director; Rebecca LaPense, director of human resources, Patrick McGonangle, facilities operation director; and Kristen Lodge, director of marketing.

Commissioner Gary Kiedaisch also tendered his resignation.

In the parking lot, before the management team could disperse to their cars, Commissioner Jade Wood came out to address the staff.

“I called a brief recess to thank you and your whole team for being patient. I had no idea you weren’t going to be seated at the table. I never would have cooperated with that gesture,” Wood said. “I just want to send a note of gratitude to all of you. You did a fantastic job. Hopefully we can figure something out.”

After Wood finished her words, Kiedaisch appeared in the lot and addressed her directly.

“Jade, I’m going to be watching the money. They have signature authority. There’s millions of dollars. I’m going to make sure there’s no corruption, that no money is paid to anybody,” Kiedaisch said. “If any money is paid on behalf of the delegation, that’s corruption. It’s inappropriate payments. The auditors will say that. This commission is in serious trouble right now.”

Wood returned to the meeting room.

“Because of the unanticipated acts of members of management, the commission is going to adjourn the public session of the meting in order to address the consequences witnessed here, we will enter into a non-public session,” Ness declared. A non-public session can be called to discuss personnel matters.

Before going into the non-public session, Wood moved to open up public comment for 30 minutes, which was approved.

The commissioners faced criticism from the audience, and suggestions that they not accept the resignations and try to come to an agreement with management.

“My husband’s a ski instructor at Gunstock,” said Denise Conory of Alton, who claimed extensive experience as a chief executive officer. “It was interesting to me how you set this physical space up and you’re hiding behind the subterfuge of rules and how things are done, you intended this. Let’s not play games.” She continued, “You knew that you have hounded this management team, which if you knew anything about business, these are exceptional financials. This team has done a terrific job. It’s about numbers, not about whether you like them or what you want, it’s about numbers and supporting these people.”

Conroy called the commissioners dismissive and criticized them for bringing politics into the management of the mountain.

“At the end of the day, we all come from different political stripes. My husband’s a conservative, I’m super liberal. He comes home and works with people of all different stripes at Gunstock. It works. It’s a terrific community and well-run business,” Conroy added. “The question I ask is where’s the money and who’s getting paid? Who sitting at this table here, except you, Jade, who’s getting paid here stroking a check? Waiting for Vail to come in here and get a big check?”

“There is no plan to sell Gunstock,” Ness said. “That’s an issue for the Belknap County Delegation. Whether they as a proxy for the taxpayers decide to do something with Gunstock, that’s not our job.”

Rep. Norm Silber is the only member of the delegation who refused to sign a pledge not to privatize or lease the resort. Silber has gone on record and even written The Daily Sun advocating for the leasing of the property to a private entity.

Commissioner Doug Lambert appeared baffled at the management’s decision to quit, seemingly unaware of long-brewing tensions.

“I don’t know that short of it maybe being a political stunt, I would throw my career away simply because of where I’m sitting,” Lambert said.

A voice in the crowd responded to Lambert’s statement with, “It’s about respect and you know it.”

During this week’s meeting of the Belknap County Republicans, Lambert encouraged attendees to show up to the GAC meeting so they could “have some friendly faces.”

Friendly faces towards the GAC were few and silent. Any that may have spoken, were drowned out by criticism.

“I’m a faithful person and I know the right thing will happen,” said Gunstock employee Alex DeLuca. “I’m urging you to just do the right thing. I have a season pass at Loon. I love to ski at Loon, but the quality of the snow and control and the staff over the last couple of years has been better at Gunstock because this team and everyone, all the employees made it feel like a home.” 

“This effects more than us,” Day said in an interview after the meeting. “It affects the other 65 full-time, year-round employees and 150 seasonal employees. These are people that liked working for these people and the senior team. This is a huge impact on them. What about all these people? What do we do? It’s terrible for this entire county.”

As for the decision for a mass resignation, Day said it was the “nuclear option”, and the last thing he and his team wanted.

“The seats made it perfectly clear that their statement was ‘we run the ski area, you don’t’,” Day said, stating that feelings of resignation were close, but not necessarily planned for the evening.

“We were quite uncertain tonight, then obviously we were going to have to raise our hands to speak and get to the speaker table.”

“That I believe was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said former commissioner Gary Kiedaisch. “I know most all of them were ready to go anyway. These four, not so much Jade, but Ness, Strang, and Lambert are so inept and unqualified to be in the positions they’re in that management sees they can’t get anything done with them.”

Both Day and Kiedaisch claimed the recently-appointed GAC members were trying to take a larger controlling stake in the day-to-day operations, citing examples such as Strang’s request to Day for personal contact information of each employee, and the statement at the last public session where GAC members stated that they run the mountain, not Day. Day denied Strang’s request for contact information.

“We’ve increased the revenue from $12 to $18 million,” Day said of his team. “The prior commission recognized the financials and felt it was good and these guys felt they needed to have control.”

During his interview, Day stressed that the resignation was not what his team wanted, and they were sorry the impact this will ultimately have on the mountain.

“All of them gave up their livelihoods tonight,” Day said. “They have principles of integrity and respect, and those are things that are most important to have in your life.”

“I had been in this to protect Tom and the management team from hideous behavior from the commission,” Kiedaisch said. “When his team resigned I felt I had to show solidarity. That was a reason. The other reason I resigned is I’ve known now for almost six months I’m not able to get anything done but I can resign with a good feeling that I and the four other  [previous] commissioners that Gunstock can be profitable on its own, and that we can pay our way forward. We have $7 million in the bank right now.”

The fate of that $7 million is also now up in the air, and it’s anyone’s guess what future lies in store for the mountain.