On the recommendation of its recreation and facilities manager, Powassan council is removing the ice from the Sportsplex and Trout Creek arena.
Michael Heasman prepared the report for council's consideration at Tuesday's regular meeting following the latest provincial lockdown orders.
Heasman's report looks at what the financials were like from October to December of 2019 compared to the same period in 2020 when the lockdowns affected facilities such as community arenas.
What Heasman found was that ice rentals were down by almost $15,000 year over year.
Because the report had to be prepared quickly, Heasman couldn't provide council with an accurate figure on what the municipality has been paying in hydro bills to maintain the ice while no one uses it.
However, Heasman estimated the cost at $5,000 to $6,000 every four weeks.
Even if the arena was to reopen, when it comes to hockey, local minor hockey association players would have no one to play against because surrounding minor hockey associations have shut down, in addition to other area arenas removing their ice, Heasman pointed out.
Without hockey, that leaves only a handful of hours where the Sportsplex would be rented by other users.
Heasman's report notes it's not known when the arena can truly reopen.
When this factor is combined with the lack of users and also spending money to keep the ice in during a pandemic, the best course of action for Powassan taxpayers is to turn off the compressors and remove the ice, he said.
Heasman prepared the report at the request of Mayor Peter McIsaac, who urged his colleagues to make a decision on the ice at Tuesday's council meeting.
Coun. Randy Hall had hoped the community “could salvage another month” of usage from the arena when this latest lockdown ends.
But he told the council he changed his mind when he heard Ontario's chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams, say the number of new COVID-19 cases would have to drop to about 1,000 a day or less before the latest lockdown orders could be lifted.
“When I heard that my instant feeling was we won't get to 1,000 before March or April,” Hall said.
“I know people will probably be upset,” but Hall said the best course of action is to remove the ice now rather than continuing to spend money to maintain it while no one can use it.
Coun. Markus Wand also voted to remove the ice, but also reminded council of his comments back in October when he cautioned against putting ice in the arena in the first place.
“I was against opening the arena from the get-go,” Wand said.
During the October meeting, Wand warned that a second wave of COVID cases could shut down the arena and he suggested waiting until the end of that month.
At this week's meeting, Wand also doubted the latest lockdown will end after 28 days.
“It's something they say to keep people positive and then they'll extend it (again),” he said.
“We're not doing ourselves any favours by keeping the arena open.”
Like Wand, McIsaac also expressed concern at the October meeting that it might be premature to open the arena at that time only to see the municipality remove the ice a short time later because of a spike in pandemic cases.
At Tuesday's meeting, McIsaac said it was a gamble to keep the ice in place in an effort to wait out the lockdown.
Borrowing from Heasman's report, the mayor noted there'd be no other teams for the local minor hockey teams to play against.
“I don't see the point of keeping the ice in the rink,” McIsaac said.
“It's a tough decision to make, but financially it's the right one.”
Coun. Dave Britton echoed the sentiments made earlier by Hall that people would be upset, but added from a monetary viewpoint “it's the right thing to pull the ice now.”
Council was unanimous in the decision to shut down both arenas.
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the North Bay Nugget. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
