Rink upgrades slated for 2025

Posted on February 27, 2025 by Vauxhall Advance

By Nikki Jamieson
Vauxhall Advance

Rink upgrades and other potential 2025-29 capital budget inclusions were discussed at a recent Vauxhall town council meeting.

The first item discussed during their regular Feb. 18 meeting concerned some additions of upgrades to the town’s arena. The ice rink upgrades compose of a Zamboni room ($100,000), ammonia room ($95,000), new boards ($200,000), ice surface floor ($1,800,000), and curling club walls and doors ($20,000). In total, the project has a budget of $2,215,500, although CAO Cris Burns said they may be able to get some expenses down. The projected would be largely funded through grants and reserves, so the town would not need to take out debentures for it. According to the budget document shown during the meeting, if approved, it is slated for 2025.

Coun. Russell Norris asked if tariffs would impact the cost of the project or if expenses would stay the same. CAO Cris Burns said some of the quotes they’ve gotten from the engineers have gone up.

Mayor Kimberly Cawley said they also need to put in the costs for the administration office and developing new lots. Coun. Shelley Deleeuw said they needed to make the lots a priority. When asked where they were at for the administration building, Burns said they were about halfway there, and there had been issues with getting the wrong permit, due to being busy with other projects and not checking to see what permit they needed.

“It would be done by now if it wasn’t for the permit,” said Burns. “Once the permit’s in, they can have the drywall up and finished. Pretty much it’s just contractors finishing up the details, like the floor.”

Council also discussed potential project for park upgrades, especially in the case of creating a new one. Coun. Shelly Dorin said she thought they could have a beautiful park with picnic areas, covers, and similar amenities. Coun. Marilyn Forchuk asked about hard surfacing the pathways for better use.

Council passed a motion to receive for information.