County Considers $1 lease on Sangudo Speedway

Brad Ellis (left) and Nancy Herelein of Doing it Right Track Promotions present at the Lac Ste. Anne County Council meeting on Aug. 10. The business seeks to take over the management and lease of the Sangudo Speedway (Joseph Quigley | Mayerthorpe Freelancer)

County considers $1 lease on Sangudo Speedway

By Joseph Quigley Mayerthorpe Freelancer
Tuesday, August 15, 2017 11:10:43 MDT AM

The lease for the Sangudo Speedway is set to change as Lac Ste. Anne County Council voted to start advertising for a proposal to switch the lease from a non-profit group for a profit business.

The representatives from Doing it Right Track Promotions presented to County council during its Aug. 8 meeting. The company, led by Brad Ellis and Nancy Herelein, have been working over the past several months to transfer control over the Sangudo Speedway from a non-profit society to their business.

However, the shift requires advertising on the County's part in order to transfer the lease, with members of the public able to put forward their own offers to lease the land. The County had set a $1 lease for the non-profit group.

Ellis, who has served as president in the society and been involved with the Sangudo Speedway for several years, said the shift is intended to provide more stability to the racetrack.

“We've never had the same people two years in a row,” Ellis said of the Sangudo Speedway Society. “You build something up and the next year you knock it down again and you're constantly building. We're trying to change that fact.”

Coun. Lloyd Giebelhaus said the pair has done a lot to help the Sangudo Speedway and that he wants to see the profit business keep community service in mind.

“I'm just hoping that the community-mindedness of the non-profit society, the for-profit group will keep that in the back of their mind,” Giebelhaus said.

Herelein said the new business is still going to be community-focused and volunteer driven.

“The only difference that is changing with the society ... is continually changing whose on the board,” Herelein said, adding the constant board switches with the non-profit society let to debt. “That's basically the reason for changing from the society to a business. We want to keep the track running and as a non-profit, this track will not be run.”

However, Coun. Wayne Borle said the new lease would need to go through proper procedures and should only be given to a profit company at “fair market value.”

"If you're a for-profit company then you have the same obligation as anybody else. If you want to pay fair market value to lease that land, that's no problem, but not at a dollar a year,” Borle said.

But Coun. Lorne Olsvik said it's council's prerogative to set the rate at a dollar if it so chooses. He later added thanks to Ellis and Herelein for their volunteer work at the Sangudo Speedway.

“To have volunteers ... putting this on for communities, it's too few and far between. I personally congratulate you for doing this and it means a lot,” Olsvik said.

Council voted unanimously to start advertising the proposed change.