The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Question: Thank you for answering the Community Hall/Whitney Forum question. Since there are offices there, it does make sense for the Community Hall to have "regular business hours" (i.e. lit and staffed at taxpayer expense), but I'm still not clear on why this makes sense for the Whitney. Regardless of staffing levels, does a hockey rink need to have "regular business hours" either year-round or most of the year? Why the Whitney and not the Creighton Sportex? Mayor Therien: Regardless of whether you view the Whitney Forum as strictly a hockey rink, and should only be open when hockey is going on, it should be noted that a lot goes on in this complex that you do not see. Even if hockey was the sole use of this area, you still have the day-to-day cleaning and maintenance of the building. Your city has spent a lot of money on just the equipment used to keep the ice in, both on the ice hockey side and the curling side. Someone needs to keep this going daily. As long as someone is in the building, you might as well open the doors so people can walk, etc. Creighton does not need to open their doors unless something is going on at the Sportex, but do not assume that means no one is in the building as they have the same requirements for cleaning and maintenance as we do. * * * Question: I know that the city gives the Recycling Centre money and I know that last year they were talking about possibly closing the centre (fortunately, this never happened). My question: why does the city not get a guarantee of service (a promise to operate for at least the year) from the Recycling Centre before funding them? Are you funding something that could technically close at any time without taxpayer input, and is that wise? Mayor Therien: This is a really good question and I am with you on the not closing up issue. The easiest way to answer your issue of funding would be to tell you that they are paid on a monthly basis, based on the amount of funding your city commits to for the year in question. I know it seems that the Recycling Centre is always so close to having to, possibly, close their doors and I really cannot answer if we would ever get that far, but the centre is run by very good people, most of whom are volunteers who are very dedicated to the preservation of this service and would and have done whatever they could to keep this going and, really, should be commended for it. * * * Send your questions for Mayor Therien to The Reminder by phone at 687-3454, fax at 687-4473, e-mail at [email protected] or standard delivery at "Ask the Mayor", C/O The Reminder, 14 North Avenue, Flin Flon, R8A OT2. Ask the Mayor runs Mondays.
