Deadline to pay A/C project deposit prompts Gunstock meeting

GILFORD — The Gunstock Area Commission is due to meet Friday to vote on whether to approve funds for installing air conditioning at the base lodge by summer.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. in the base lodge, according to Gary Kiedaisch, the commission’s vice chair, and one of three commissioners to call for the special meeting.

Kiedaisch said the meeting was scheduled because the commission is facing a deadline to pay an $83,000 deposit for the air-conditioning equipment to be installed in the 80-year-old timber-and-fieldstone lodge at the county-owed recreation facility. If that deposit is not paid today (Friday) the equipment will be shipped to a different customer, Kiedaisch explained.

Commissioners Rusty McLear and Jade Wood joined Kiedaisch in calling for the special meeting.

Gunstock has enough cash on hand to cover the full cost of the $223,000 air-conditioning project, he said.

“We don’t need to borrow any funds,” he emphasized.

At another special Gunstock Commission meeting held last week, Commissioners Peter Ness, Jade Wood, and Dr. David Strang voted to temporarily halt all capital improvements, which put the brakes on the air-conditioning project.

The purpose of Friday's meeting was to get authorization to free up the necessary funds to pay the deposit.

Kiedaisch said plans to air-condition the base lodge have been in the works for many months and, “in order to have the equipment it has to be ordered way in advance.”

In addition, Gunstock has been booking wedding parties with the expectation that the air-conditioning will be installed before summer arrives.

The air-conditioning project is included in a tentative proposal by the county to use COVID economic stimulus funds to pay for two major upgrades at Gunstock.

The County Commission is considering $1 million to go to pave Gunstock’s main parking lot, as well as defray the cost of air-conditioning the base lodge.

But County Commission Chair Peter Spanos told the Gunstock commissioners last week that the county commissioner’s support is contingent on all five Gunstock commissioners giving that proposal their unanimous endorsement. Spanos reiterated that position at the county commissioners' meeting on Monday.

The Gunstock commissioners are expected to take up the proposal when they hold their next regular meeting on Wednesday.

Kiedaisch said it is imperative to move the air-conditioning project ahead as quickly as possible. The disbursement of any COVID funds for Gunstock will ultimately need to be approved by the County Delegation. Kiedaisch estimated if those funds are finally approved they would not be distributed until sometime during the summer.