Bonnyville Curling Rink Needs Roof Repairs

Club hopes to repair roof and furnaces this season

Representatives for the Bonnyville Curling Club, president Colin Hanusz and vice-president Samantha Mare, presented Town Council with the state of the Curling Rink and improvements they hope to conduct this season. Along with the presentation the club asked the Town to increase their financial contribution of $20,000 to ensure the facility will be properly maintain and the club can continue to run.

“The building, everyone knows, is old. It’s to the point where a lot of its components, the roof, the furnaces, have all surpassed their lifespans,” Hanusz explained to Council that the facility’s roof is in need of repair. “Our biggest issue is the flat roof,” one section of the roof was repaired, “[contractors] dug out a 12 foot piece, it was rotten underneath. They cleaned it out and put it back. It just keeps getting patched.” Last season the roof leaked quite a bit, even during play, it would drip down on players. “This is a big issue, it causes us a lot of grief. It leaks through, we have buckets to catch it, we have to make walkways,” Hanusz reports the leak is over the ice surface, “I’d like to fix this right.”

Another essential repair is the furnaces, the facility has four furnaces, all of which could use replacing, says Hanusz, but one is ready to go at any time. “They’re past their twenty year lifespan,” Hanusz reports that one of the furnaces barely works and ideally, “it should’ve been replaced last year. We probably spent more fixing it, then it would’ve cost to replace it. There’s four furnaces in the facility, they all need to be replaced over the next year or two; one needs to be done right away.”

Other repairs that are on the Curling Club’s radar, include paint & exterior crack repair, the bar cooler, and it is anticipated that the ice plant will need to be replaced in five years. Hanusz reports that the ice plant is running good, and there is money put aside specifically for that, should it need to be replaced sooner than anticipated.

“Our revenue is down a little bit,” president Hanusz says this could, in part, be due to a slightly lower membership, “our membership is down from 120 to 104.” Although down 16 members the club is very vibrant, with a large seniors’ curling club and 36 participants in the junior program. The club also runs four bonspeils throughout the season.

In the past, the Town has budgeted for $20,000 a year. With that in mind, the Curling Club has looked into grant funding for a matching grant, which the club is planning on applying for to assist with the cost of the roof repairs. The grant is due for application on December 15th, thus the club has requested a decision from the Town on how much money they can commit to the club.

A rough estimate on the roof puts repair costs at $60,000 and each furnace at $4,000. The club has asked the Town to increase their financial contribution with the hopes that the club secures enough grant money to repair the roof and replace the four furnaces this season.

The Town has requested the Club also ask the Municipal District (MD) of Bonnyville to increase their financial contribution for this season. According to the Curling Club’s presentation, last year the MD contributed $12,000 to the club.

The Town will discuss increasing the financial contribution to the Curling Club during budget deliberations in December.