Council OK’s arena ice schedule
An arena ice allocation policy that will give Welland recreation and culture staff tools to deal with potential scheduling conflicts was passed Tuesday night, despite the objections of at least two councillors.
The policy will form part of a yet to be completed business plan for the Welland Arena Complex at 501 King St.
Ward 4 Coun. Tony DiMarco pulled the report from the special council agenda over concerns he had about it.
“This has been before council a couple of times now, and nothing has really changed in it. I do have concerns, and quite a few more now … important ones,” said DiMarco.
He wanted to see a complete arena business plan — not a standalone ice allocation policy before that plan was complete.
DiMarco said last year one of the arena’s biggest users was bumped three times from its scheduled ice time and said that was wrong. He wanted to hold off passing the policy until the end of the month and have user groups meet to discuss it.
“What’s the big rush for this? I don’t appreciate what’s going on,” he said
Ward 6 Coun. Bonnie Fokkens said she wouldn’t support passing the policy, especially because it wasn’t part of a complete business plan.
“My concern is that a business plan has a structure, just as same as reports we get from staff. Why pull this out from a complete business plan and focus on it right now? You wouldn’t do that with a staff report and do it piecemeal.”
City treasurer Steve Zorbas said staff was asked to come up with an ice allocation policy and that is what it did.
“It was led by the Welland ice users advisory committee. It was reviewed and endorsed by them. It’s the first step in moving forward with allocating ice time for the 2017-18 season. The committee is working on a detailed business plan that will come in the fall,” said Zorbas.
He said the policy has been set out and a tentative schedule, based on all requests made, has been set. The policy, Zorbas added in response to a question from Fokkens, is based on the use of both city arenas, but could be amended if the need arose.
DiMarco wanted to know whether the process would be held up if the report was put off for another council meeting.
“Once the ice allocation policy is approved, it will allow staff to deal with potential conflicts if they exist. If it is not approved by council, staff won’t have any conflict resolution tools,” said Zorbas. “Our Welland ice users are very engaged and very passionate about this.”
Zorbas and Richard Dalton, acting manager of recreation and culture, both said members of the committee — there are at least eight — have seen the policy at least four times and even had an informal vote on it. None, they said, objected to the policy.
Ward 5 Coun. Michael Petrachenko and Ward 2 Coun. David McLeod said they both supported the policy.
McLeod said if there are challenges with new policy, then staff could present a fix or suggestion. He didn’t see a need in delaying the policy in favour of waiting for the business plan.