Prescott’s Committee of the Whole has made their recommendations about the future of the Leo Boivin Community Centre.
During this week’s committee meeting three suggestions were made to the council with regards to the arena’s future. The committee suggests staff; address health and safety deficiencies at the Leo Boivin Community Centre in 2018, engage the town’s engineers in planning for the replacement of the arena within the next five years and explore all available funding and grant opportunities so that the town does not have to rely entirely on reserves and debt. It was also noted that finding a funding partner was crucial to moving forward with the project.
If the town decides to work on building a new arena within a five year timeframe then they will not fix all the deficiencies with the Leo and the cost would be around $400,000. The repairs would include removing the mould from the rink’s insulation, addressing structural issues and any bleacher or guardrail deficiencies. According to the town the 2018 budget set aside $235,000, this and infrastructure reserves could address the work that needs to be done this year.
Treasurer Mathew Armstrong pointed out that it was imperative the town find a funding partner, or some form of subsidy, in order to move forward. A number of suggestions were put forward including Councillor Ray Young bringing up the possibility of private enterprising and Mayor Brett Todd mentioning the town’s good friends at Augusta Township.
One thing is certain, there will only be one ice pad at any facility the town does build moving forward. During the presentation Mayor Todd explained that a two pad arena would be close to a twenty million dollar facility, so without federal funding it is a non-starter.