Million dollar damage to arena
Excluding the cost of replacing the Zamboni, the insured cost of the damage from the Jan. 26 arena fire tallied up to $1.126 million.
鈥淎ll but about the $126,000 is essentially cleaning and painting, not structural stuff,鈥� explained Peter Waterworth, the municipality鈥檚 chief administrative officer, noting that the beams on the ceiling were being scrubbed and painted and even the trophy cases were being cleaned because of smoke damage.
The early morning fire began in a storage closet in the Zamboni room at about 2 a.m., when there was no one in the building.
鈥淭here were a number of items inside the cupboard that could have contributed to the fire,鈥� said Fire Chief Greg Van Tighem, mentioning a propane torch and battery operated flashlights.
鈥淲e will never know the cause because no one was there,鈥� he said, noting that the fire department will look at all of the possibilities and take all possible precautions to ensure a similar fire doesn鈥檛 happen again.
Although the municipality hoped to have the facility open again on Feb. 10, the tentative re-opening is now set for Feb. 17.
In the meantime, the town鈥檚 hockey teams have been juggling their games and attempting to get them played at regional rinks.
Peter Bridge, the arena manager, is taking bookings for playoff games for the Feb. 22 weekend and is working with the commercial league to come up with a solution for the remainder of the season.
Budget vote next week
Council discussed the 2014 operations budget at length at its Tuesday, Feb. 11 committee of the whole meeting and will vote on it at the Feb. 18 regular meeting.
An interim budget was approved in December to allow administration time to compile the final numbers for 2013 and to give council more time to deliberate.
The proposed budget presented to council in December called for a 6.38 per cent tax increase for 2014. That equates to a $120 tax increase for a homeowner with a property assessed at $750,000.
Library鈥檚 tentative opening still stands
After visiting the site of the library and cultural centre Feb. 4, Peter Waterworth, chief administrative officer for the municipality, reported that there is a considerable amount of activity going on and the atmosphere is much more positive.
He also noted that the tentative opening date remains the end of March, beginning of April, as a best case scenario. 鈥淭he ultimate timing will probably be determined very quickly because we have now reached agreement on the work that needs to be done.鈥�
Council will have its own site visit before its regularly scheduled meeting Feb. 18.
Vote on land use review
Council will discuss whether to support municipal participation in a joint review of land use and planning with Parks Canada at its Feb. 18 meeting.
As it stands, the motion, if approved, will be supported on the condition that a memorandum of understanding is reached between the municipality and Parks Canada and a tender is approved for the review.
In his comments on the motion, Peter Waterworth wrote: 鈥淧lanning and development documents are out of step with current land development practices and do not enable creative development.
鈥淭he absence of an integrated plan means that an ad hoc approach is taken to planning, at the cost of lost opportunity for cohesion and good design.鈥�
The review is to be jointly funded by both organizations.
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
