Lac Ste. Anne County is prepared to help the Rich Valley Agricultural Society find a way to fund costly repairs to the Agriplex’s ice plant.
However, it is still too early to know in what form that help will come and it will depend largely on how much grant funding the society is able to get and what solution the society’s board selects.
That is what an audience of about 40 people learned during an information session about the state of the arena Dec. 4 at the Rich Valley Agriplex. The meeting was held immediately after the society’s annual general meeting with Lac Ste. Anne reeve Joe Blakeman, deputy reeve Nick Gelych and Coun. George Vaughan in attendance.
On Oct. 11, a day before the hockey season began, the facility’s chiller, a component in the ice plant used to cool the brine that is pumped through the rink’s floor failed.
Originally the society had hoped to be able to save the season by renting a portable chiller until a more permanent solution could be found, but decided against it because they didn’t deem it financially viable.
“We thought it [rental] was going to be a lot less but after looking into it there were a lot more costs involved than we realized,” society director and facility manager Lisa Maygard said. The only available rental would have cost the society $58,171.
Other options the society investigated was to replace the ice plant’s chiller unit, estimated to cost between $88,000 to $106,000, replacing the ice plant with a new unit — either an ammonia based system at $500,000 or a Freon-based system pegged at $285,000 after changes to the building and a contingency fund are built in.
Society president Steve Borle said one of the reasons why the society looked into replacing the entire ice plant instead of replacing one part is that it is essentially the same unit that was first installed at the arena 32 years ago.
The solution they decided on and what they asked the county to fund was an eight-year-old ice plant that was only in operation for one year, at a cost of $143,092 installed.
One of the reasons why the society decided to go with the used plant, besides cost, is that it was more energy efficient and that the seller, Total Plumbing and Heating, provided a one-year warranty.
At their Nov. 23 meeting Lac Ste. Anne councillors declined the society’s funding request. In a letter that was circulated at the meeting, community and protective services general manager Trista Court stated council is committed to working with the society, but they said one of the first steps the society needs to do is apply for a provincial Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) grant.
CFEP is a matching grant that provides financial assistance to acquire, build, purchase, repair, renovate, upgrade or expand sports, recreational, cultural or other related public-use community facilities.
Court also stated council would help the society apply for any grants and council would provide any letters of support needed.
She added the county is also considering providing funding it in the form of a loan, with it being repaid, in part, through deductions in the recreation operating grant it provides the society.
“Why wasn’t the county able to help us out? I mean when you look at other counties and we see them helping out and yet they are not willing to do anything for us?” yelled out an audience member.
It was a sentiment many others echoed and one Gelych took exception to.
“It’s not that we don’t want to help. Not once did we say no. We said an assessment needed to be done on the building. We suggested that if it was, it might be worth it to look at a new one, to make sure this building remains viable for the next 30 years,” he said.
Gelych noted the county recently upped the amount it gives to community groups to help fund recreational facilities and programs from $35,000 to $50,000.
Blakeman agreed, saying the county is willing to help, but the first step is for the society, regardless of whatever solution they choose, is to apply for CFEP grant, something to his knowledge the society haven’t done as yet.
He added that he was confident the society would receive the grant noting groups in smaller communities, such as Darwell, have been successful
One of the reasons why the society hasn’t applied for the grant is that they don’t have enough money to provide the matching portion.
Blakeman said the county was willing to front the society the funds, suggesting it could come in form of a loan.
“All these rinks, Sangudo, Onoway, Rich Valley they were all built in the 80s. Why didn’t you guys [addressing Blakeman, Gelych and Vaughan] think that maybe you needed to start working with the ag. boards to upgrade these facilities? Work with them, see what grants they can get and start a fund to replace these rinks?” asked another audience member who didn’t identify himself. He added without these facilities residents will start leaving the communities.
Blakeman agreed but said it was incumbent on the community groups to take some responsibility for planning for the future of their facilities.
“We don’t own them, operate or maintain them. So when your [ice] plant is 20 years old and if you know something will need to be done why doesn’t the Rich Valley, Sangudo ag societies or the Onoway Curling Club come to us and say we are in a boggle and we are 10 years away from needing a new plant and we don’t have the money?” he asked.
An audience member responded by saying, “Why would they? I’ve lived here a long time. I’ve read the Facebook walls complaining about not getting help. Just look at the roads, the county can’t get them straight, why would they go to the county for something as big as an arena?”
Gelych interjected that the county is currently in the process of coming up with an overall replacement plan for the area’s recreational facilities, but unfortunately, the failure of the plant happened before they were able to complete it.
However, both Gelych, Blakeman and Vaughan said that if something like this was going to happen now as next year is an election year and the governing NDP might be willing to loosen the purse strings in an effort to get Whitecourt-Ste. Anne MLA and agriculture minister Oneil Carlier re-elected.
Maygard said one of the concerns the board had is that the longer the arena was without ice that they could lose a number of teams that use the facility, something they can’t afford.
“It’s not just our local teams, we have teams from Barrhead, St. Albert, Spruce Grove, Mayerthorpe, Onoway, Alexis [Nakota Sioux Nation] — those are the teams that keep us going because we don’t have enough users locally to keep a facility like this open,” she said. “So if we can’t provide the times they need, or if we do not have ice at the start of next year’s season, we will lose teams.”
That being said, the board decided as it is unlikely they would be able to have ice in the arena this season that they would keep all their options open regarding the type of ice plant until they have more information regarding warranties and installation of the new plants. They also decided they would apply for the CFEP grant with the county’s help.
