The Kenai City Council adopted a resolution which amends the facility management agreement for winter services provided by Red Line Sports at the Kenai Multi-Purpose Facility. The facility’s current winter ice contract with Red Line Sports runs from November 2020 through March 2023. Under the agreement, no services may be provided by the contractor between the months of April through September.
City Manager Paul Ostrander tells the Kenai City Council:
“The reason that we’re extending this contract by essentially what is two months is because when we originally said that we were not going to have summer ice at the facility this summer, and also Soldotna was not going to have summer ice for the facility, KPHA, the local youth hockey organization came to us and requested that we get ice in the facility by August 1st, which would allow their comp teams to get on the ice at the same time as they usually do, and at the same time that the comp teams from other parts of the state get on the ice. At that time, we sat down, and I talked to Mr. Curtin and he felt that he could get the necessary work done in time to get ice in in August. We told KPHA that we’d commit to doing that.”
Due to maintenance work at both the Soldotna Sports Center and the Kenai Multi-Purpose Facility over this summer, both facilities were closed to the public, which has impacted local sporting programs as well as community members who use the facilities. The additional time to be added to the current agreement would allow users back into the facility prior to winter to provide needed ice for local youth competitive hockey programs. To offset the additional cost of the amendment to the city, ice rink users have committed to a minimum number of hours of facility rental.
Brad Walker, Parks and Recreation Director writes that the amendment changes the contract amount from $45,000 to $55,000.