A civic center without ice

ROUSES POINT | During the July 18 Village of Rouses Point Board of Trustees meeting, village administrator, Chris Latremore, brought an issue to the board's attention that was discovered July 14. Some maintenance had recently been done on the brine pumps for the ice rink. Both brine pumps had been rebuilt and were being reinstalled. At least one of the brine pumps is from 1972, and Latremore was unsure of how many more times the pumps could be rebuilt, and that the village needed to start considering purchasing new ones. "That's problem number one, problem number two: while he was doing the install, John smelt the odor of ammonia in the facility. Well, our air exchanger has a leak and the air exchanger, and that's the part that freezes the ice, needs to be replaced," Latremore stated. The air exchange unit is thought to have been installed in the 1970s when the civic center was built. Latremore got in contact with J. Hogan Refrigeration & Mechanical Inc. to take a look at the unit and now check into what the cost of a new one would be. "This is something that the board needs to react on fairly quick because if we don't have that chiller here by September, we're going to have a problem trying to get ice down and these chillers may be six months out," Latremore concluded. Mayor John LaBonte said "The bottom line is if we don't get these things up and operating we'd have no ice. We'll lose every bit of revenue we have from the skating club, the hockey club, and everything else so this is something that's pretty urgent to address." The Rouses Point Civic Center is much more than just a revenue source for the village, it's a place where the community comes together to enjoy winter recreation. "It's a nice place for everyone to learn and grow and just be together as a community," said Stephanie Theobald, a coach and skater for North Country Skating Club. Theobald also mentioned that when she's coaching and even skating she gets to watch the community come together and enjoy the space. It's clear to see that both the village and the community want the civic center to be functional for the upcoming winter recreational season, but time isn't the only obstacle the village will have to overcome to get the air exchanger fixed, it comes with a hefty price tag as well. "You're going to be over $50,000 and that's with our public works people taking the unit out, getting it all prepped, and everything," said Latremore. The administrator also mentioned that the air exchanger was supposed to be cleaned annually and in the 40 years the unit has been installed it has never been. This point made LaBonte think of a perfect example of planning for the future of the village and making sure there is money in the reserve to do repairs and maintenance for situations like this. "We don't have any money in the reserve for transformers. We don't have any money in reserve for the trucks. We don't have any money in reserve for the rec center. It's one thing to keep our rate low in the village, but it doesn't make any sense when you're operating on bare bones and anything out of the ordinary happens we're not financially prepared for this problem," said LaBonte. The mayor went on to mention that if something were to happen to the transformers in the village, with the newest one being at least 14 years old, there would be no money to replace them. On July 25, an emergency meeting was called for trustees to discuss quotes to replace the air exchanger. LaBonte and Trustee Benjamin Arno were present during the meeting with Trustees Dale Menard and Joseph Rodriguez joining via conference call. Trustee Brian Pelkey was excused for a family emergency. To buy a brand new air exchanger would cost approximately $96,500 and an additional $8,000 to remove the old unit and install the new one. To clean and test the air exchanger, to find out where the problem is would cost $12,000, and to rebuild the machine would cost an estimated $40,000. Rebuilding the machine is not only cheaper but has an estimated two-week timeline. A new unit wouldn't be in until the end of October. The board voted to go ahead with the rebuild, which would be handled through J. W. Martin out of Rochester.

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A civic center without ice

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