TPRID on path to continue major changes

By Jessie Marchesseau

MEYERS – With a new fiscal year just around the corner, the Tahoe Paradise Resort Improvement District board of directors is gearing up for a year full of change.

Former park manager, Steve Dunn, is out of the picture and moved out of the house in which he had been residing on the property. Now the board must decide what to do about maintenance, management and event planning, not to mention what to do with the house. The 50th anniversary celebration is coming up, bears are in the trash almost daily, new fiscal year financials need to be discussed and to top it off, it’s an election year with four of the five board seats up for grabs.

Applications have already been accepted for the events coordinator and park caretaker positions. The directors will be sorting through those and doing interviews in the coming weeks. A third position is also being discussed for seasonal park maintenance. All three positions will be part time, replacing Dunn’s solitary full-time one.

Whether or not living in the on-site house will be offered as partial compensation to any of the new employees is still undecided. For now, the board has opted to list the house’s estimated rental market value, $1,100 per month, as part of the annual revenue in the 2015-16 budget. The house is not ready to be rented right now, as Dunn did not meet his deadline to be fully moved out by May 16 and still has some personal property on the premises. The board was considering a dumpster to dispose of the remaining items, but since Dunn has made an effort to clean things up in recent weeks, they decided to wait a little longer and then reassess.

Also listed on next year’s budget is revenue from site rentals, mainly weddings. However, this number is significantly smaller than it has been in the past, as it only includes rentals already confirmed for this season. The board plans to discuss at a later date whether or not to continue hosting weddings in the park as well as the possibility of raising prices to be more in line with other local venues.

After reviewing the rest of the proposed 2015-16 budget prepared by Peter Nelligan, board treasurer, it was unanimously approved June 25 with a balanced operating budget of $72,900.

Nelligan has also been in charge of trash at the park in the absence of a caretaker. He said bears are constantly getting into the trash and bear cans are a must, sooner rather than later.

“We’re creating bad behavior in bears by allowing them to feed in the park, and it’s also a mess to pick up,” he said.

He estimates the park needs five boxes. Price quotes are being gathered, and the issue will be revisited at the next meeting with the goal of getting them installed as soon as possible. Board Chairwoman Sue Novasel said they would likely be able to appropriate funds from elsewhere since it was not included on the approved budget.

Jan Roman Gonzales reported that the planning of the 50th anniversary celebration on July 11 is moving along. Bands, vendors and sponsors are lined up, flyers are ready to be distributed, and signs and banners will be arriving any day.

The RID recently received notice from El Dorado County that 2015 is an election year for the board. Since two of the seats were appointed midway through their terms and two are expiring, all four will be up for election this year. The two expiring seats will be four-year terms, and the other two will be for two years. If no more than four people apply, those applicants will simply be appointed to the seats and no election will be conducted. Any resident registered to vote within the TPRID may put their name in for the election by contacting Kim Smith with El Dorado County at 530.621.7490 between July 13 and Aug. 7.

The next meeting will be July 9.