This is truly extraordinary. Yesterday the entire management team at Gunstock (NH) resigned. Here's what's going on, according to NH Public Radio:
Gunstock Mountain Resort's management team abruptly resigned Wednesday night, a move that follows months of acrimony and what top staff have called political meddling over the direction of the county-owned mountain.
For much of the past year, some members of the board that oversees the resort, backed by a handful of libertarian-leaning Belknap county lawmakers, have said the resort, which is coming off two years of strong financial performance and has plans to expand, needs to be on a tighter leash.
The mountain’s defenders - including many local residents who said Gunstock’s offerings had improved markedly over the years - said the push for reform was politically motivated and driven by misinformation.
In resigning Wednesday, Gunstock’s management team said the feuding and criticism had taken a final toll.
"We couldn't take it any more; we couldn't take the environment,” said Tom Day, who quit as Gunstock president Wednesday. “They had meetings to tell me that I needed to make sure to support them, and that they were in charge and I'm not. It's just crazy.”
Gov. Chris Sununu, who before becoming governor was CEO of the Waterville Valley Resort, which his family owns, was quick to agree.
“What has been happening over the last year surrounding the Gunstock Area Commission’s inability and unwillingness to work collaboratively with the management team at Gunstock is deeply concerning,” Sununu wrote in an open letter Thursday.
Sununu also took particular aim at a handful of Belknap County Republican lawmakers — Reps. Mike Sylvia, Norm Silber, and Gregg Hough – and the commission members they appointed to oversee Gunstock.
“These individuals have made bad decisions, and until they are removed from their positions and replaced with good people who recognize the wonderful asset that Gunstock is, the County will continue to suffer,” Sununu wrote.
In a statement, Silber, who represents Gilford in the New Hampshire House, dismissed the resignations as “a well-orchestrated and well-financed campaign of disinformation” to divert attention from forthcoming audit reports he predicted would be “very damaging to the reputations of the resigned commissioner, many of the resigned former staff and the governor himself.”
“It is truly unfortunate that the governor failed to have any contact with the Chair of the Gunstock Area Commission, the Chair of the Belknap County Delegation or the other two State Representatives he called out before inserting himself into a controversy about which he actually knows very little,” Silber continued.
The current leader of the Gunstock commission, Peter Ness, said his focus is on trying to figure out how to keep operations at the resort up and running with no management team in place.
“We were faced with an unprecedented act of management, and we are trying to figure out how operations for the mountain move forward today,” Ness said during a brief interview Thursday. “I’m in meetings all day to try to get that done.”
According to the Gunstock Mountain Resort Facebook page, the resort’s Gunstock Adventure Park, a popular summer attraction, is closed until further notice.
“Please know that we are just as bummed as you are and hope to see you soon,” the post reads.
(Original story by the Laconia Daily Sun follows below. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.)
The mass resignations came at the beginning of Wednesday night's Gunstock Area Commission meeting.
As Commissioner Ness made opening remarks, Gunstock General Manager Tom Day stood up and asked why he and the rest of the management team had been relegated to sitting in the audience, rather than having their own table as had been customary at previous meetings.
“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.”
Gunstock Mountain Resort's management team abruptly resigned Wednesday night, a move that follows months of acrimony and what top staff have called political meddling over the direction of the county-owned mountain.
For much of the past year, some members of the board that oversees the resort, backed by a handful of libertarian-leaning Belknap county lawmakers, have said the resort, which is coming off two years of strong financial performance and has plans to expand, needs to be on a tighter leash.
The mountain’s defenders - including many local residents who said Gunstock’s offerings had improved markedly over the years - said the push for reform was politically motivated and driven by misinformation.
In resigning Wednesday, Gunstock’s management team said the feuding and criticism had taken a final toll.
"We couldn't take it any more; we couldn't take the environment,” said Tom Day, who quit as Gunstock president Wednesday. “They had meetings to tell me that I needed to make sure to support them, and that they were in charge and I'm not. It's just crazy.”
Gov. Chris Sununu, who before becoming governor was CEO of the Waterville Valley Resort, which his family owns, was quick to agree.
“What has been happening over the last year surrounding the Gunstock Area Commission’s inability and unwillingness to work collaboratively with the management team at Gunstock is deeply concerning,” Sununu wrote in an open letter Thursday.
Sununu also took particular aim at a handful of Belknap County Republican lawmakers — Reps. Mike Sylvia, Norm Silber, and Gregg Hough – and the commission members they appointed to oversee Gunstock.
“These individuals have made bad decisions, and until they are removed from their positions and replaced with good people who recognize the wonderful asset that Gunstock is, the County will continue to suffer,” Sununu wrote.
In a statement, Silber, who represents Gilford in the New Hampshire House, dismissed the resignations as “a well-orchestrated and well-financed campaign of disinformation” to divert attention from forthcoming audit reports he predicted would be “very damaging to the reputations of the resigned commissioner, many of the resigned former staff and the governor himself.”
“It is truly unfortunate that the governor failed to have any contact with the Chair of the Gunstock Area Commission, the Chair of the Belknap County Delegation or the other two State Representatives he called out before inserting himself into a controversy about which he actually knows very little,” Silber continued.
The current leader of the Gunstock commission, Peter Ness, said his focus is on trying to figure out how to keep operations at the resort up and running with no management team in place.
“We were faced with an unprecedented act of management, and we are trying to figure out how operations for the mountain move forward today,” Ness said during a brief interview Thursday. “I’m in meetings all day to try to get that done.”
According to the Gunstock Mountain Resort Facebook page, the resort’s Gunstock Adventure Park, a popular summer attraction, is closed until further notice.
“Please know that we are just as bummed as you are and hope to see you soon,” the post reads.
(Original story by the Laconia Daily Sun follows below. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.)
The mass resignations came at the beginning of Wednesday night's Gunstock Area Commission meeting.
As Commissioner Ness made opening remarks, Gunstock General Manager Tom Day stood up and asked why he and the rest of the management team had been relegated to sitting in the audience, rather than having their own table as had been customary at previous meetings.
“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.”
