City council voted 6-3 in favour of purchasing a new Zamboni ice-resurfacing machine at their Jan. 13 meeting.
"This particular item has been on council's agenda a number of times, and the frustration and stress it's placing on our recreation staff is not fair," said Coun. Erin Stewart.
The C.A. Nesbitt and Gordon Beard arenas are currently serviced by a 520 model Zamboni, built in 2002, which was expected to be due for replacement in 2012. Instead, the timetable has been moved up due to the need for major repairs to the existing machine.
"The machine is finally on its last legs," explained Coun. Brad Evenson. "The operators have told us time and time again that it's done. We need to show our residents that we are committed to recreation programs."
Council was presented with two options for replacing the machine. The first, which was recommended by the recreation department, would see the city purchase a new 525 model Zamboni at a total cost of $109,500, less $25,000 in trade-in value for the old machine. The city would be given a free loaner Zamboni to use until the new machine was in Thompson and ready to go.
Under the second option, the engine would be removed from the existing Zamboni and sent to Winnipeg for repairs. This would only cost the city $2,250 plus freight charges, but would result in the arenas being shut down for 10 days due to lack of an ice resurfacer.
"The Zamboni is an integral part of our operations," wrote new recreation director Darlene MacLeod in a Jan. 7 memo to council. "Our revenue depends on the rental of the ice from our user groups. The current despaired machine has caused a slowdown in our time between rentals/periods to clear the ice becoming less efficient." If council opted for the second option, repairing the engine, MacLeod noted, "the money used to rebuild the engine will not be recouped in the future and our trade-in value will continue to depreciate."
"We also run the potential risk of losing out on revenues if the current ice-resurfacing machine that we have decides to quit on us," noted Stewart. "It's a ticking time bomb right now."
The city had also considered shunning Zamboni altogether, and purchasing a machine from rival manufacturer Olympia instead. A 2011 Olympia Millennium ice resurfacer would have cost the city $98,300 less $24,000 in trade-in of the old machine - or about $10,000 less than the Zamboni. However, as the city already possesses all the necessary attachments for Zamboni machines, and as there have been problems with Olympia machines in the past, that option was no longer on the table by this meeting. "For a seven-year period we had no issues with the Zamboni, while with the Olympia, which we had in the past, there were several problems," explained MacLeod.
Council ultimately went with the rec department's preference of buying a new Zamboni, which is scheduled to arrive in May. Voting against were Coun. Judy Kolada, Coun. Stella Locker, and Coun. Luke Robinson. "I had a look at the Zamboni, and I talked to the operators," said Robinson. "I even watched it perform on the ice. Not once did I see it falter or stumble. This issue came up in early December. We are now into mid-January with no issues. This thing was supposed to die a month ago - it hasn't died yet and it hasn't misperformed or stumbled. I believe that it can wait until spring."
