But in the case of the Rotary Spirit Centre (RSC), the question becomes a little more tricky: will users groups like minor hockey, ringette and figure skating even come back?
Community services director Gerry Murphy said when the province’s sweeping restrictions came into place Dec. 13 that closed hair and nail salons, fitness and recreation centres, pools, arenas, libraries, museums and casinos, the ice at the RSC was taken out, while they decided to keep the water in the pool, albeit at a lower temperature to save money on heating. Barrhead has gone the opposite route, Murphy noted, and have kept the ice at the Agrena, but drained their pool.
“We didn’t drain the pool and when we look at the potential cost benefit of draining it, it’s a lot of water and a lot of chemicals and a lot of labour to fill it. So, we’ve turned the heat down considerably — I checked the temperature today and it’s 21C. You wouldn’t want to swim in it, but we’re able to maintain the chemical balance at that temperature,” said Murphy.
“And just like every other pool in Alberta, we’ll be applying to Alberta Health Services to get our pool certified for the public and that will be a minimum of two weeks. Not to throw the province under the bus, but they have a history of saying, ‘You’re going to shut down for this amount of time and we’re going to give you some warning.’ And then all of sudden they say you’re open.”
For the RSC, taking the ice out was an easy call especially considering the length of the shutdown, said Murphy.
“There’s some pretty significant cost savings, especially when we’re taking about a minimum four-week shutdown,” he said. “In the event we do extend beyond the four weeks, and we certainly hope we don’t, then the cost savings just snowball.”
Murphy said it’ll take around a week to get the ice back in, although the town will closely follow what Hockey Alberta and other indoor sports associations and groups decide about their return to play.
“Your guess is as good as mine if Hockey Alberta is going to want to start up a season at the mid to the end of January … I really don’t know. They may just call it a season like so many other user groups have,” said Murphy, noting a local women’s hockey team and Fun Hockey have both decided cancel their seasons. “And I don’t know where ringette stands right now. But again we’d have to look it at on cost perspective — how many weeks are we going to be able to get in before we’re shutting down again for the spring.”
Meanwhile the curling rink floor remains bare as the Westlock Curling Club decided mid-November to hold off on starting its season until 2021 — again, they won’t be able to start until the provincial COVID order is lifted.
“They’re looking pretty smart as an organization right now. We never did put the curling ice in and therefore there’s been no costs incurred. Again, we’ll see on Jan. 14 where we stand and how best to serve the community going forward.”
George Blais, TownandCountryToday.com
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