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.
Dear Editor: This letter is from the executive of the Uptown Men's Curling Club and is in response to previous letters you've received and published from other concerned local curlers about the amalgamation of the Willowpark and Uptown Curling Club. First and foremost we want to clear up misconceptions about what the amalgamation requires for resources. We DID NOT ask for $10,000 for repairs or upgrades to the locker room. Minimal work may be required to renovate the room to make way for all the curlers and the estimate for that is around $500 to $1,000. It was discussed that if we amalgamated we may require a new scraper due to the increased usage of the ice and less downtime to work on it. A new scraper would allow us to maintain a quality ice surface and it can be taken and used at a new facility. Also, in the beginning of the discussions around amalgamation there had been some talk about both clubs putting the same amount of money forward towards the annual startup fees and then getting those funds back from the membership dues, as well as splitting any profits 50-50. This plan was just an idea and if it was implemented the startup money was to be returned out of the dues. The idea of putting money into the season's startup and then getting it back from dues is nowhere near similar to the idea put forward in The Reminder of investing the same amount of money in a building and then never seeing it again. The startup costs can be covered by the dues Uptown Curling Club as past practice if Willowpark is unable or unwilling to contribute. We also have a concern with the salary calculations in the letter in the paper. The numbers discussed ($390,000) were not the actual operating costs of the new facility but the decrease in subsidy of the new facility versus the combination of old ones. It would still cost over $1 million per year to operate the facility, it would just be $390,000 cheaper to do it with the new facility than with the combination of old buildings we are currently attempting to keep running. We encourage the members of Willowpark to get out and vote, but we want them to be considering accurate information when they stand before the ballot. Thank you for space in your paper. Uptown Men's Curling Club Executive
