Denny Scott
dscott@midwesternnewspapers.com
TEESWATER – South Bruce Council has decided not to move forward with either repairing or replacing a key piece of equipment at the Mildmay-Carrick Recreation Centre despite warnings from staff that inaction could threaten the coming recreation season.
At council’s Sept. 3 meeting, Manager of Recreation and Facilities Catherine Simpson said, in a report to council, the older of the two compressors that keep the ice surface operational at the Milmday-Carrick Recreation Complex was nearing the end of its operational life. The compressor, installed in 1997, is past its expected service life, Simpson said, and was identified in the municipality’s asset management plan for replacement this year.
Simpson suggested two options: authorize a major overhaul costing between $15,000 and $25,000, or approve a full replacement with funding drawn from the municipality’s general reserves. The replacement, according to Simpson, was expected to cost approximately $100,000 and was budgeted for this year, with $70,000 coming from a grant. Unfortunately, the municipality was not successful in getting the grant.
Later in the evening, Simpson would suggest a $2,000 inspection, which council decided not to pursue. She also explained there was $21,000 in reserve to cover the repair, and Mayor Mark Goetz would say council had put itself in this position.
“I think we need to start building these reserves and get them where they need to be,” he said. “I think we just keep putting ourselves behind that eight ball over and over again by listening to consultants or people that are in the business of selling this stuff. I don’t doubt that it doesn’t need an overhaul, and maybe a new compressor, but we need to put the money there first and then buy the compressor.”
Mayor Goetz went on to say that recreation isn’t a “core” responsibility of council, and that it can’t “come at the cost of everything else. He then said that the problem with this kind of situation is council will see it “getting bigger and bigger.”
“We should investigate and… fix it properly and plan for maybe a year or two down the road for a replacement,” he said.
Simpson, in the report, said that while an overhaul could extend the machine’s lifespan temporarily, it would not be a long-term fix.
In her report, Simpson said Black and McDonald, the company that maintains the arena’s equipment, has advised that replacement remains the best course of action.
Simpson said the $2,000 inspection could give council more information to make the decision.
“Since no one has opened that compressor since 2021, it might be in good enough condition to get us through the year, but in the spirit of preventative maintenance, we don’t want to rely on ‘mights’ for a critical piece of infrastructure,” she said. “I’m recommending tonight that we have it looked at. If it can limp through, great, if [an overhaul is necessary], we can solicit three quotes for the overhaul to occur in advance of Oct. 1.”
She noted that is when ice is set to go into the Mildmay centre.
Coun. Jeff Goetz lamented what he called the move from preventative to predictive maintenance.
“I want information, not age,” he said. “If it sounds okay, and looks okay, keep going. Older equipment is sometimes better than new.”
He went on to say the “overhaul” that occurred five years ago through Black and McDonald, wasn’t a “true overhaul” because that would have resulted the compressor being made “back to new”.
“I don’t buy Black and McDonald’s explanation of four or five years,” he said. “It can run for 20 or 30 years if you get a true overhaul done.”
Coun. Ron Schnurr asked how old the newer unit is and if the older one is “just a backup”. Simpson said the newer unit was installed in 2020, but that neither was a “backup” unit.
“They run in tandem when building ice, or when it’s warm out, and it gives relief,” she said. “Once the season is up and running, and it’s – 20° Celsius, then it might be considered ancillary, but not until then.”
Schnurr said he was “tempted to try and operate the way it is”, however Simpson said that, if there is a failure, it could significantly impact usage.
“The lead time, if it fails, is six to eight weeks,” she said of replacing it. “That’s why we want to open it up and have an assessment to see if it can get us through the season.”
Schnurr, however, was still apprehensive, saying there’s nothing guaranteeing that the newer unit wouldn’t fail.
Coun. Mike Niesen asked if there was a warranty on a rebuild or overhaul, and Simpson said that wasn’t possible with the compressor in question due to its age.
Niesen went on to say he is in favour of the inspection, and learning if a complete overhaul is necessary.
Van Dyk asked what kind of exposure the municipality would have if there was a failure.
“It sounds like the risk is a disruption of service – what does that look like?” he asked. “If we manage to build the ice and [the unit] fails mid-season, might we be able to limp by on one compressor?”
He went on to say the worst-case scenario is not having ice in Mildmay and asked Simpson if it would be possible to shift all the users to the Teeswater ice surface.
“On the fringes of the schedule, we could, but the prime ice time is already booked solid,” she said. “It would be a significant challenge to move folks over to Teeswater because everyone wants the same time. If people want to play hockey at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday, that could work, but minor hockey isn’t going to be able to do that.”
She went on to say that, if it fails during ice building, that could mean no ice in Mildmay until the unit is repaired or replaced, but if it fails later in the season, it could still result in challenges, like not being able to switch to curling ice, not being able to host bigger tournaments and possibly having problems with providing anything except regular service.
Mayor Goetz said that entertaining these ideas was “buying trouble” and suggested that having the unit inspected should be the next step.
Despite Mayor Goetz and other councillors saying they were in favour of the inspection, council voted to take no action – no inspection, no repairs, no overhaul, and no replacement — as urged by Coun. Goetz.
“I’m not in favour of touching it,” he said. “Every time you touch it, you find a problem. Maintenance people will say that. Until we have data that says it is clearly in trouble, leave it. I think we should guide our processes that way: with motors and compressors, we should be monitoring daily temperatures, and then we will have information.”
Mayor Goetz asked who would support that stance, and had three council members for and against, leaving him to break the tie. When it was put to a vote, Mayor Goetz decided to back Coun. Goetz’s opinion, voting down any option for inspection, repair or replacement, citing the need to replace the centre’s roof as taking priority.
Questioning the consultant
Throughout the discussion, the consultant company that maintains the equipment and provided recommendation was questioned by council members.
As stated above, Coun. Goetz questioned the physical work and reports of Black and McDonald, as did Van Dyk, who questioned the information provided, and why the process for maintaining the equipment isn’t put out to bid.
“Is there an end date to the maintenance agreement?” he asked. “I’m wondering if there are opportunities for savings. I would like to look at tendering and getting quotes for a service agreement, and not just continually roll that over.”
He said he would like to see the same done for all refrigerant projects, and asked why the $2,000 price tag for the inspection Simpson recommended wasn’t opened to bid. Simpson explained that, with the short window before the arena opened, the company was the best option to inspect the equipment.
Van Dyk then asked who provided the life cycle estimates for the project, which Simpson explained came form the manufacturer’s recommendations and service reports, before he lamented the fact that council didn’t have time to get opinions from other contractors.
