The Kenai Peninsula Hockey Association has been making its presence known in the past Soldotna City Council meetings, urging the Council to implement ice over the summer to host practices before tryouts in August.
However, the group received some troubling news at the Soldotna City Council meeting that took place on Wednesday, March 27th.
Soldotna Parks and Recreation Director Joel Todd called in during the public comments period to address some of the concerns regarding adding ice in the summer.
The main issues at hand with the proposed idea are staffing, including additional costs, large events, refrigeration, and HVAC Systems.
The group discussed the need for ice rink maintenance and operations during the summer months.
“But I think it would cost probably about 33 to $40,000 a month to provide ice a summer, and that’s just electricity and staffing. Not maintenance, repairs, administrative all the other stuff. Looking at last year’s numbers, we probably brought in about 21 to $29,000 per month in ice rental fees,” says Todd.
This creates an estimated $12,000 shortfall each month during the summer when accounting for only electricity and staffing costs. Several options to reduce the staffing cost could include volunteer support or creating a specific ice maintenance summer job position. Still, at this time, the Parks Department would need staff in the building with regular full-time maintenance and laborer positions.
So, not only is cost something to consider, but staffing is also a struggle at the moment.
“And this time, staffing is an issue because it did take last year, two full-time staff members to operate that facility that was removed from our summer operation. So that means less campground support, less gardening and flower support, less good band support, and we did see a decrease in quality and maintenance and operations due to that,” said Todd.
To make summer ice possible, the Parks Department would need to allocate 2-3 full-time staff to the ice rink operation during the summer, depending on the scheduled use.
However, in 2023, 5 summer positions (20% of their summer seasonal crew) were unfilled due to a shortage of qualified applicants.
In the long term, the department explains that they will need to increase their staffing budget to accommodate the additional ice use while still providing high service to the community during the summer season. In the short term, they will need to reallocate staff support from other areas of their summer operation, such as landscaping, flower gardens, large event support, campgrounds, and maintenance to offer ice in summer.
Regarding refrigeration and HVAC systems, there have been some other issues to add to the table. The Soldotna Regional Sports Complex was constructed in 1983, and there have been only minor updates to some aspects of the mechanical systems. The refrigeration system is original and nearing its life expectancy.
The additional ice in the summer months will impact our aging system as it will need to work harder to keep the ice at a temperature during the warmer summer months.
Currently, they do not have a dehumidification system to control the air conditions in the space during warmer months. It is possible this could lead to additional issues, including condensation drips, mildew, peeling paint, corrosion, and poor ice quality, which may lead to additional operating costs.
Todd wants to emphasize that the Soldotna Parks and Recreation Department does support the Kenai Peninsula Hockey Association. Still, it seems summer ice may not be possible until next year.
“We get it; we understand the difficulties of of rolling into a tryout without having any practice time on the ice. That’s not ideal. We’re not against that. We know we support what you guys are asking. The hard part is trying to support the hockey community and all the other user groups in our community in July,” said Todd.
