New refrigeration system cuts arena ice removal time

By Ian MacKay

Staff saved time at the end of the skating season because of the new refrigeration system, councillors learned last week.

“Taking the ice out was like a dream this year,” recreation director Kelli Emmons told councillor Greg Carlson during the April 20 council meeting.

Carlson had asked whether power costs at the AGT Centre had declined after the ice plant and the arena’s refrigeration system were replaced over the past two years.

Removing the ice recently took about 24 hours, compared with the “three or four days” it took in the past, Emmons said. The ice had a depth of about “an inch and a half,” rather than about three inches in some places previously.

The new floor’s “heat deck helps because you don’t have that frozen layer underneath, so (the ice) warmed up really quickly,” she said.

Everything at the arena is now “summerized,” Emmons added.

“Because of the warranty on the concrete, we have to use a skid steer (to clear away the soft ice), which we just purchased this year,” Mayor Trevor Hay explained.

Teams advancing in league and provincial playoffs kept the arena busy until the end of the season, Emmons noted in a report.

“One Friday, there were two provincial games and the Rosebowl” curling bonspiel underway “and it was a hopping place,” she said during the meeting.

Also at the arena, sensors for a security system had been installed and a gas-monitoring system — “as required by Public Health” — is “almost complete,” her report said.

The town also received six grants under the federal Canada Summer Jobs program.

They will help pay for two workers each at the swimming pool and with the Fun Squad, and one each for the tourism centre and the recreation department, Emmons said.

Also, new pumps for the swimming pool and its hot tub, plus gear for a new sound system there, had arrived. Staff from two companies had visited in advance of replacing the pumps and “doing the rehab on the hot tub,” which is to get new skimmers, her report said.

She was waiting for a concrete technician to “look at the decks to see what needs to be done to prevent the leaking,” it said.

The minor ball association has 23 teams registered this season, including five T-ball teams, the meeting heard.

Recreation staff had also painted the main floor hallway at the civic centre. A new gas meter was installed but caused some boiler problems before SaskEnergy staff got the system working properly, the report indicated.

Emmons also aims to establish a committee to raise money for a four-sided score clock to hang above centre ice. It is estimated to cost about $75,000, the report said.