At their last council meeting of the year on Dec. 14, North Battleford city council discussed a request by Holy Family School to flood their new outdoor skating rink.
In the end, the general feeling was that more discussion was warranted with the school division on the request, as there were a number of outstanding issues left to be addressed such as costs of water and staff hours.
Council had received correspondence from the principal, Michelle Sarenco, outlining the request:
鈥淲e are requesting the city鈥檚 assistance with flooding our skating rink. We have the boards built and we will put the boards up. Parents have agreed to clean the ice. We would just need the city to do the flooding of the rink on an ongoing basis.
鈥淚s this something you are willing to do?鈥�
On the one hand there was broad support expressed for the rink, with Councillor Thomas 鈥淏ill鈥� Ironstand voicing support.
鈥淐ommunity rinks, they are essential to who we are as a people,鈥� said Ironstand, who said having a rink to allow kids in the area to do productive things would keep them 鈥渙ff the other path.鈥�
But several issues must still be addressed with the request, which came too late to be included in the city鈥檚 2021 budget or to be in their work plan for the year.
The main issue seems to be logistics, as the fire hydrant is at the front of the school, and the city would need more hose for the flooding to occur at the rink location.
Staff hours and their availability was also an issue. Adding one more rink to the number of rinks serviced by the city raised the possibility that they might have to hire someone or contract out for the extra work.
Director of Leisure Services Cheryl DeNeire noted it was already a challenge for their staff to manage their existing rinks. DeNeire pointed out they lost all the rinks they had flooded to warm weather the previous week, so they had to re-flood again.
The city is already responsible for six outdoor rinks including four on city property and two on school property at Connaught School and St. Mary School. Those two outdoor rinks operate as public rinks. Meanwhile, Bready School also has an outdoor rink but are 100 per cent responsible for its upkeep and flooding; it is a school rink, but is available to the public after hours.
That was yet another issue raised: whether it was consistent for the city to do some flooding at schools while other schools do their own flooding.
The recommendation from administration was to defer the item of rink flooding at Holy Family to the next budget cycle, in 2022, and there was sentiment at the meeting to do that. No final decisions were made, however.
The general mood at the meeting was to try and find a solution. Mayor David Gillan suggested it warranted a broader discussion involving the school division about the cost-effective options for flooding the rink.
