Committee Presentation Re-Opens Debate on Ice Rink
by Alex Brooks
A group of local citizens led by Hoosick Falls Mayor Rob Allen have been meeting weekly over the past month to try to come up with a plan for the ice skating rink refrigeration project strong enough to convince the Hoosick Town Board to reconsider its decision to abandon the project. Members of this group in addition to Allen who spoke at the Town Board meeting included Ken Lorenz, High School Principal Pat Dailey, Hoosac Headmaster Dean Foster, and Kendal Baker.
The Hoosick Town Board hired a consultant to write a feasibility study to determine what the economics of the rink project would look like when the project was completed and in use. The study’s conclusions were just what the Board had feared: that it would cost the Town $50,000 or more to operate the rink even if they built it entirely with grant money.
Allen said his group feels that the report “missed the mark” by estimating expenses too high and revenue potential too low. Among the elements of the report that they challenged were these:
There was little effort to seek out possibilities of revenue from figure skating or speed skating groups in the area; they did not contact the Hoosick Falls Central School to ask if there was any interest in hockey programs or other ice skating programs or activities; they did not consider possibilities for grant-funded skating programs such as learn-to-skate programs; they underestimated the possibilities for local youth programs to be organized for hockey and figure skating once an affordable local ice facility is available; and they didn’t consider the possibilities for using the facility as a turf field when it’s not in use as an ice rink.
The committee spoke with Craig Kennedy who ran the North Adams ice rink for many years, and he emphasized the need to build a clientele over time, and build interest in hockey and ice skating among the local population. Along those lines, Dean Foster said his school has five hockey coaches who would be interested in helping with that, and a great many high-skill high school players who would be willing to get involved teaching younger kids to skate and to play hockey.
Allen said his committee plans to make a long-term commitment to helping to build skating and hockey programs.
Allen also said he believes the consultant’s report overestimated costs. He said he believes the best construction method is mats over a sand base, and that would be a much less expensive way to build the rink. He also challenged the idea that a manager for the rink would be paid $50,000 for a job in which he or she works only six months of the year. He said he thought there are probably efficiencies to be had by combining the management of the pool and the ice rink into a single full-time job. This person would be the driving force in building a clientele for the ice rink and enhancing revenues overall.
Supervisor Mark Surdam said he doesn’t necessarily disagree with the counterpoints to the consultants report presented by the committee, but he is in a difficult position at present – he wants to secure the million dollar grant with a solid plan presented to DASNY (the grant administrator) ASAP. His plan to transfer the grant to several pool and rink improvements not including refrigeration has been approved by DASNY, and changing plans again is problematic. He said he was in love with the idea of ice rink refrigeration from the beginning, but until he is convinced that it will pay its own way, he has to protect the taxpayers from something that may become an annual expense.
Surdam also said the ideas the committee is presenting would require determined and energetic management, and if the Town were to go that route it would have to make sure to have adequate leadership to make it work. Members of the committee re-iterated their commitment to making it work, and offered to write the new plan to be presented to DASNY. Ken Lorenz said if you give up on the refrigeration project and just do pool improvements, you are spending large sums of money but gaining no new revenue stream, but if you go with the refrigeration project you have the possibility of a great deal of new revenue.
The Board seemed to agree that it needed a meeting dedicated solely to this topic to work out their thoughts and make a decision. No such meeting was scheduled, but they expect to do so soon.