City getting ‘pucks in a row’ ahead of Community and Rec Centre opening

By Richard Coffin

The city’s new Community and Recreation Centre is the subject of a couple of council items Tuesday night.

During a special committee meeting, which starts at 5:30 pm, arena-related user fees are the subject of a public meeting.

Ice rates and building rental fees for the new centre are lumped in with costs associated with Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens for a three-year period.

“The use of Boart Longyear Memorial Gardens Sports Arena rates on an interim basis minimizes disruption for user groups, and allows staff to analyze actual operating costs, utilization patterns, and market demand associated with the new Centre before undertaking a full review,” states a staff report.  “A future comprehensive user fee analysis will be completed following the first few years of operation.”

Pending approval, fees at all facilities are on the rise.

They include everything from increases in public skating and shinny hockey fees, meeting, community and board room rental rates and more.

A report coming to the regular meeting of council involves a digital North Bay Sports Hall of Fame display being set up at the new centre.

It calls on council to authorize an agreement, with the city providing the hardware and software for the interactive display, with the Sports Hall providing the content.

Officials say it will make it easy to search for specific inductees and provide the capability to develop future features, including video.

The Sports Hall would also be provided with one-time start-up funding of $20,000 to produce content.

At last report, the new Community and Recreation Centre is slated to be operational on Aug. 12.

Richard Coffinhttps://www.mynorthbaynow.com/Richard Coffin has been a reporter and news anchor on the radio in North Bay for over 25 years.  From premiers to people in the neighbourhood, he enjoys connecting with newsmakers and writing stories that matter to area listeners on a variety of topics including healthcare, education, politics, sports and more.