High River town council has made a decision on what to do about the concrete slabs under the curling rink and small ice surface at the Bob Snodgrass Recreation Complex.

Mayor Craig Snodgrass says the scope of work ballooned over the summer so the previous council put the work on pause.

"Back in the summer we knew that we had to get things reined in, it was very obvious that the architect and the engineer that we had at the time were just going off the rails from what we had originally wanted to do and that's why we hit the pause button on it to figure out what we really needed to do in that facility and because it was a $2 to $5-million spend at the time, I said 'let's delay it and let the next council decide this' because they're the ones that are going to have to be the decision-makers on that kind of expense when it's that close to an election."

He says the new council decided during a Committee of the Whole meeting to replace the slabs under the curling rink and the small ice surface as it was before with no enhancements.

"We need to get it back up and running and we need the surface to be playable, that was the game from step one so that's where we're going right now."

Administration had presented the council with options, along with all the pros and cons, ranging from putting it back the way it was to building a whole new arena.

Cost estimates range from just under $2.4 million to put everything back with a seven-to-thirteen month timeline and almost two to three years and over $29 million for a new, purpose-built arena.

"There's limited funds to get the best bang for the buck for the facility...there's 280 to 300 members of the curling club so the Town does have to be careful as to how much money we're spending, but if you don't have the right ice, which is what the problem was, you can't attract the tournaments and playdowns that were starting to leave High River and we didn't want to see that," he says.

The mayor points out a $2 million price tag may seem like a lot but there are also economic benefits to getting the rinks going again and getting people to come to the town for bonspiels and other events.

 

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