To The Editor:
The story of the Mad River Glen Cooperative is a proud one. Yet, the co-op now faces a crisis of identity, and it’s a story I think The Valley needs to understand.
The crux of the issue lies in the 2,500-owner share capacity. While I await a formal response from the board regarding the cap's binding status, their silence has already created a system that feels fundamentally unfair, threatening the co-op’s founding principle of open and voluntary membership.
This current crisis is the culmination of a policy trend. As the 2020 Valley Reporter article on prioritizing shareholders highlighted, there has been a creeping focus on serving the existing owner base. With the membership now capped and no new access, this shareholder-first practice has gone too far, creating an imbalance that actively contradicts the mission.
The Conflict: Shareholders vs. Patrons. The co-op's mission is to operate "for the benefit of shareholders, employees, and patrons." Currently, the capped ownership and financial structure only benefits static shareholders, harming the long-term vitality of the patron base and the community.
Financial imbalance: Owners should bear responsibility for the mountain they saved. The financial burden increasingly falls on general patrons and ticket buyers, effectively subsidizing the exclusivity of the capped ownership group. To rebalance this, the board should commit to increasing the Annual Purchase Requirement (APR) to the maximum limit allowed by the bylaws (adjusted by the CPI). Owners should maximize their commitment to the mountain they own.
Compromised integrity and access: The co-op model thrives on democracy and transparency. The board should commit to an audit of the final shares sold to confirm they were not preferentially allocated to insiders, violating the "first-come-first-served" rule. The board should also disclose the size of the owner waitlist and the annual share availability ("roll-off rate"). This silence creates the perception of a "black box" around future access.
Blocking the next generation: The co-op’s future vitality relies on dedicated young skiers becoming owners. The board should review and adjust the transfer policy to ensure that patrons/employees with zero shares held receive absolute priority for access, protecting the mountain's long-term spirit.
John Greco,
South Duxbury
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