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Opinion: Vote for Miller, Wright and Olmer for IVGID trustee

Sid Bekowich
Opinion

Who speaks for the silent majority in Incline Village? Obviously not the current IVGID Board of Trustees, which was elected by the people of this village to protect and promote their interests.

We need a Board of Trustees that first and foremost devotes its attention to preserve and enhance the high quality of life that people came here for.

We need a Board of Trustees that examines carefully how money is being spent. We need a Board of Trustees that does not relegate its responsibilities to the general manager.



With these objectives in mind, I put together the following summaries from the 10 IVGID primary candidates’ responses to the question, “How would you rate the current state of affairs with IVGID?” — which was one of a few questions asked of the candidates in the May 19 edition of the Bonanza.

“We need a Board of Trustees that examines carefully how money is being spent. We need a Board of Trustees that does not relegate its responsibilities to the general manager.”

Benecia Price: It may be feasible for Incline Village to take on more governing responsibility.



Frank Wright: On a scale of 1 to 10 I would give IVGID a mere “0.” Yes zero.

Judy Miller: A for customer service, D for transparency, F for fiscal responsibility.

Mathew Dent (incumbent): In short, needs improvement.

Paul Longshore: Good.

Peter W. Morris: IVGID is much improved.

Philip J. Horan (incumbent): Stable and improving.

Robert Olmer: I would give IVGID a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Steven King: There seems to be a significant amount of distrust and disappointment in both IVGID and the Board of Trustees.

Steven Thomason: IVGID has lost the faith of the local community.

These divergent points of view suggest that the direction the Board of Trustees is taking needs to be reconsidered, particularly regarding how they evaluate expenditures for major projects such as the Diamond Peak Master Plan.

The financial plan to pay for this project is unrealistic and is bound to fail. In summary, this $16 million project would be built in three phases. The revenue from Phase I ($4.02M) pays for Phase 2 ($6.2M). The revenue from Phases 1 and 2 pays for Phase 3 ($5.5M).

There are about 10 ski resorts within a 50-mile radius from Incline Village. Some of these are world class resorts, such as Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows, Heavenly Valley and Northstar that already have what Diamond Peak wants to offer and much more.

Diamond Peak cannot compete with these resorts: The mountain is small. It is not high enough. It faces south into the sun and the terrain is not challenging enough.

Diamond Peak should be promoted as a family resort that would provide improved children’s ski school, as well as a daycare facility, a beginners’ ski slope for adults; and high quality restaurants that provide a pleasurable dining experience for the parents.

As to the beaches, preferably they should remain as originally planned, exclusively for the enjoyment of the property owners and their private guests. Opening the beaches to outsiders will inherently create parking congestion and other ills that would violate the whole idea of Incline Village.

In my opinion, the most likely candidates to fulfill these objectives are: Robert Olmer, Frank Wright and Judy Miller.

Robert Olmer would bring to the Board valuable hands-on experience in finance management as well as the management of ski resorts.

Frank Wright has attended most, if not all, the Board of Trustees meetings. He is a strong advocate of changing the status quo and putting decision-making authority back in the hands of the Board of Trustees.

Judy Miller has devoted lots of time to attend and evaluate the actions of the Board of Trustees and is an advocate of much more transparency and financial control by the Board of Trustees of the financial operations of IVGID.

Sid Bekowich is an Incline Village resident.


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