Fred Tranquilli, Chief Administrative Officer explains to the board that the Nustadia Report contained timelines and investments that may or may not be consistent with the feedback that has been received. He adds that Council can accept the report along with the specific timelines and investments or they may with not to proceed and discuss a different path forward.
Councillor Pelkman feels that Council needs to discuss the date indicated in the Nustadia Report to decommission the Tri-Township Arena of April 2022. He express that in fairness to the organizations that will be directly effected by the closure of the arena, we need to give them some time to prepare.
Councillor Kennes agrees with Councillor Pelkman and suggests that the date be changed to April 2023. He also notes that as far as primary investments Council can't just look at recreation facilities as there are many other priorities within the municipality over the next 5-10 years.
Councillor Cowan feels that changing the date give Council another year to operate the arena and will give us time to make decisions and going forward the date may have to be revisited. He does support an ice pad in Mount Brydges as well as moving the Tri Township operations to be moved to the municipality's recreation department.
Council Flegel does not agree with setting a date and feels that there should only be a date when Council is ready as a group to make decisions. He learned today that Mount Brydges Minor Hockey Association had the highest registrants so there is a need for an arena in Mount Brydges. He adds that after some conversations he has had the West Middlesex Memorial Arena has approximately a 10 year timeline before it requires attention.
Councillor Brennan agrees with pushing the date out to give Council time to make decisions.
Deputy Mayor Richards supports having no date and to give the user groups a one year notice. This process could last the next 2-3 years before any decision is made.
Councillor Baker does not support the motion to extend the timeline for another year as this process will some planning and it will require some direction to do so. She feels that Mount Brydges needs an arena and we should be considering where this ice pad will be located.
Councillor Hipple also agrees with removing the date.
Councillor Kennes withdraws the motion and states that Council maintain the sense of urgency to keep moving this forward and also agrees that the management of the arena should be moved to the recreation department.
Councillor Brennan wonders if Council should discuss if the number of ice pads should be reduced from four to three.
Councillor Pelkman does not suggest reducing from four ice pads to three and make the decision at a later time to determine if the ice usership is dropping based on trends.
Deputy Mayor Richards agrees with Councillor Pelkman and suggests that we wait five years on the West Middlesex Memorial Arena to see trends on ice and building usage.
Councillor Baker feels that reducing the number of ice pads shouldn't even be considered, the consideration should be where to locate a new pad and also agrees with Deputy Mayor Richards in waiting five years on the West Middlesex Memorial Arena.
Mayor Vanderheyden agrees with the motion however she fears that the door will be closing on everything else such as multi-use facilities. As there are more recreation activities that don't involve ice pads.
Councillor Baker presents a motion to Council.
Councillor Brennan has concerns with what else is tied to this decision, finances, locations, will there be another facility and are we also committing to that.
Councillor Pelkman would like to see a list of major capital investments community wide before committing to building an arena.
Councillor Brennan supports the intent of the motion but would like to see what the budgetary implications would be.
Councillor Flegel feels that this is a good start in order to plan and prioritize forward.