Towns urged to rally funding for Black Mountain
By Eileen M. Adams
Staff Writer

RUMFORD – Community leaders gathered Saturday morning to hear of plans to develop Black Mountain and learn how their towns can help.

“To keep in line with the philosophy of the Libra Foundation and the Maine Winter Sports Center takes a huge commitment,” said Jolene Lovejoy, a member of the board of directors for Black Mountain of Maine.

More than 30 selectmen, town managers and others got together to hear Andy Shepard, director of the Maine Winter Sports Center, describe a lodge to be built next spring and talk about the doubling of the vertical drop for Alpine skiing.

The lodge is expected to be nearly double the size of the current one, from 5,000 square feet to 9,000 square feet, said Peter Phillips, director of skiing at the mountain. The new lodge will accommodate up to 350 people and serve as a conference center or meeting place for community organizations.

The board is looking for a reasonably priced vertical ski lift.

To complete the mountain’s expansion, Lovejoy said participation of volunteer expertise and funding is required from each of the 10 River Valley towns.

Rumford has traditionally given $70,000 a year to the Greater Rumford Community Center to operate Black Mountain. With the sale of the mountain to Maine Winter Sports earlier in the year, the town is expected to continue providing that amount of money. But because the mountain and the expansion of offerings will focus on all the towns in the River Valley area, including special ski programs for youngsters from SADs 43 and 21, all towns are expected to provide some funding.

Lovejoy said board members will visit each board of selectmen and finance committee from Carthage, Canton, Byron, Roxbury, Andover and Peru in January to ask for an article to be included on each annual town meeting warrant. These towns traditionally hold their annual town meetings in March.

Board members will also visit boards of selectmen and finance committees from the towns that traditionally hold annual town meetings in June a couple of months before those meetings to make the same request. Rumford, Mexico and Dixfield hold their town meetings in June. Hanover generally meets in late autumn.

Lovejoy said she doesn’t know how much each town will be asked to give. But each town should make some kind of contribution.

“We’re here for the children, for healthy children. We need support from all the towns, to show the responsibility of the area,” she said.

Both Phillips and Lovejoy said they were impressed with the interest shown by those who attended Saturday’s special meeting.

“We wanted them to go home and talk about what can be done to be involved and to gain ownership of Black Mountain,” said Phillips.

Lovejoy said tentative plans call for establishing ski programs from youngsters from the SAD 44 school district next year.

eadams@sunjournal.com

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