Tamarack orders temporary layoff of 100 employees

Tamarack Resort temporarily laid off 100 of its 150 employees Friday after a judge appointed a receiver to take over management of the troubled Valley County resort, Tamarack’s chief executive said.

The employees should be back to work by Nov. 3, when the receiver has money, Jean-Pierre Boespflug told the Idaho Statesman.

Employees were notified of the layoffs in a memo, Boespflug said. He said Fourth District Judge Patrick H. Owen signed an order Friday naming a receiver, as demanded by Swiss bank Credit Suisse, which went to court after Tamarack defaulted on a $250 million loan from the bank. With interest, Tamarack now owes $273 million.

The receiver will replace top managers, including Boespflug and his partner, Chairman Alfredo Miguel, the principal investors in Tamarack. A receivership differs from a bankruptcy, in which management often remains in place.

Credit Suisse had feared Boespflug’s $250,000 plan to winterize the unfinished Village Plaza were inadequate to protect their investment. Credit Suisse has said it would give a $10 million loan to fund a 90-day budget for more extensive winterization and pay the costs of getting Tamarack’s ski hill ready in December.

Tamarack fought the receivership for months before conceding it was necessary because Boespflug and Miguel were running short of cash. But Boesflug said Tamarack wanted some limitations on the receiver’s powers and better cooperation before signing the recievership agreement.

Tamarack managers had asked that budgets be reviewed by the courts, and that they keep an office on site to advise the receiver, and continue to sell homes.

“We obtained cooperation on those three points, which sealed the deal,” Boespflug said Friday night.

Boespflug said Tamarack will next present a budget proposal, which should be approved by Oct. 31 so employees can return to work by Nov. 3 after a two-week furlough.

“With everybody's cooperation we might be able to do a little faster than that,” he said.

Boespflug said the remaining employees are there to prevent degradation of the skiing facility and golf course, along with reservation and booking agents.

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