OAKLAND — Garrett County commissioners are still working with legal counsel to address several remaining matters with Adventure Sports International Center’s $3 million debt obligation, but are not willing to accept responsibility for the debt, James Raley, chairman, announced Tuesday.
“This is an ongoing dialogue. This is not over. This is not done. We need some time to sort this thing out and to try to see if there is some amicable solution to this,” said Raley at the commission’s public meeting.
In early January, ASCI’s board of directors proposed to convey all of the center’s facilities, assets and operations to the county. The offer was contingent upon the county assuming ASCI’s liabilities, according to a statement released by the commissioners.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the commissioners made it clear that they would not consider the conveyance if the debt obligations remain.
“I think it needs to be clear that the commissioners spent a lot of time on this,” said Monty Pagenhardt, county administrator. “When this resolution came from the Adventure Sports Center International Board of Directors ... the commissioners said, ‘We will not even entertain any talk of transferred ownership, transferred assets, transferred facilities with that outstanding debt on the hinge.’”
Raley echoed Pagenhardt’s sentiments. “We are not going to assume a $3 million debt. We know that the county cannot afford a $3 million debt on that. Please allow us the opportunity to continue to work on that project to see what we can possibly accomplish.”
The debt was incurred because of cost overruns in construction, a faltering economy and the Wisp Resort filing for bankruptcy in October, Matt Taylor, executive director of ASCI, said in a previous interview with the Times-News.
ASCI was paying on its debt until September 2010. The payment of the debt changed because of the complexity of the relationship with the annual $180,000 fee that was collected from the Wisp, according to Raley.
“Once that fee was not able to be collected, that caused some problems with meeting the financial obligations for debt,” said Raley. “ASCI is one of the creditors in that (Wisp’s) bankruptcy proceeding. ... If, in fact, the Wisp were to emerge from that then the monies could be forthcoming. But at this point they are not.”
Nancy Railey, who is on the board of directors for ASCI, said the Wisp fee was helping to pay down ASCI’s debt.
Railey said no one could have predicted the downturn in the economy. “We have to realize that project has $24 million of state, federal and some private funding. I do think we have to be cognizant of that factor as we continue to look at it.”
ASCI would be forced to be put up for sale in the worst case scenario, said Pagenhardt.
And county commissioners do not want that to happen. They view ASCI as an asset to the county and recognize that it will enhance and grow the county’s economy, according to a statement they released.
The debt will not affect operations or the 2014 World Championship Canoe and Kayak Slalom Races, Taylor has said.
ASCI’s facilities, which became operational in 2006, include a self-contained manmade whitewater course and the Fork Run Recreation Area, a 550-acre forest.
To see the commission’s full public statement, go to www.garrettcounty.org.
Contact Elaine Blaisdell at eblaisdell@times-news.com.
