All four arenas in Grey Highlands will soon be open seven days of the week.
At its meeting on Nov. 1, Grey Highlands council unanimously voted in favour of a staff plan to hire up to four part-time seasonal staff to a maximum of 32 hours in order to ensure local arenas in Markdale, Flesherton, Rocklyn and Feversham are open every day of the week.
Once the new staff are selected and trained, opening hours at each of the arenas will expand to seven days a week. The arena in Markdale will open on Mondays and Tuesday, in Rocklyn Mondays and Wednesdays will be added, the arena in Flesherton will open on Mondays and in Feversham Saturdays will be added.
Council also decided that the new staff will be scheduled at the arenas whether there are bookings or not - meaning walk-in bookings will be possible those days.
In recent weeks, Grey Highlands council has faced pressure from local community groups to expand arena availability across the municipality.
During the open forum portion of the meeting, Doug Griffins of the Grey Bruce Highlanders Hockey Association said his group reduced the number of teams it has due to the limited ice availability in Markdale. He said with an expansion of hours, his group could book more time and would be able to offer an Under-10 team next season.
Members of council thanked municipal staff for quickly addressing the issue and coming up with a plan to move forward.
“We’ve responded to the community's concerns. It’s up to the community to come forward. Let’s see it work,” said Coun. Tom Allwood.
The expanded arena availability will last for the current ice season and council and staff will take a look at the results in the spring and determine if the expansion of arena hours was successful.
A staff report on the matter estimated it would cost between $21,000 and $27,000 for the new staff, depending on where they are placed on the wage grid and their pension status.
In the report, staff said the municipality already has a commitment from local groups to use eight hours of the expanded ice time. During the discussion, Coun. Paul Allen estimated that the revenue from 12-13 hours of additional rentals would make the ice time expansion a break-even proposition.
Michele Harris, the municipality director of economic and community development, said staff would begin advertising for the new positions immediately.
Coun. Dan Wickens thanked his colleagues and municipal staff for their efforts to solve the issue and encouraged members of the public to book the arenas for use.
“I knew we could do it,” said Wickens. “I hope the public appreciates it.”
