At Monday night’s Huntsville council meeting, whether the ice stays or goes was debated, with a final decision to leave it in for a few more weeks and wait to see if the province-wide shutdown is extended.
Councillor Jason Fitzgerald was in favour of keeping the ice in as long as can be used.
Huntsville Mayor, Karin Terziano, followed up and said “If we take it out, it’s not going back in until September.”
Councillor Brian Thompson said, “Let’s wait another month and see where we are at.”
Councillor Tim Whitey, wants to take the ice out and bring it back earlier in the summertime if they’re able to. Normally the ice doesn’t go back in until August but, if they’re able to bring it back earlier than that, he thinks they should. He also added that he didn’t want to leave it in and build false hope. He closed out his statement by saying “My vote is to take the ice out”.
Deputy Mayor, Nancy Alcock, spoke after Whitey and was in agreement with both Councillor Thompson and Whitey. She wants to wait one more month but also doesn’t want to build false hope. She ended her remarks by saying “Maybe what we do need is a little bit of hope.”
Council then put it to a vote and voted in favour of keeping the ice in until February 10th. In that vote, they also added that, if the current shutdown measures are extended, the ice surface will be removed.
According to Huntsville’s Director of Community Services, Simone Babineau, the cost for the town to remove the ice would be $6,000. She added that, from January 12 to February 10, it would cost $4,200 to continue maintaining it. If the town were to remove the ice and then reinstall it, it would cost between $18,000-$20,000. All of that money though is part of their budget so; they wouldn’t be going over their budget.
Council will re-discuss this topic once they find out if the Province-Wide Shutdown is extended.