Rossland city council has taken a skeptical eye to funding renovations to the arena lounge to the tune of $200,000.
That budget was put before council last week, and covered upgrades to flooring, lighting, storage, the bar/kitchen, and general aesthetics. The work would have been in preparation for the city hosting the BC Winter Games in February and potentially the Coy Cup in March.
A staff report said with council’s blessing, they would seen requests for proposals and refine the scope and schedule to tackle the most critical items first.
But mayor Andy Morel said council felt it wasn’t a suitable investment right now, although they haven’t completely shut the door on the project.
“It seems like an exorbitant amount of money right now,” he said. “Functionally, the space still works.”
Morel said they do have some storage requirements, but staff will try to come up with a cheaper, more specific plan to address that issue. Furthermore, Morel said a report is coming to council in October from a recreation steering committee outlining priorities.
“We thought it was a bit premature to make decisions without having that presentation brought to us,” he said. “So we’re holding off at this point and hoping that we’ll have more clear information and be in a better position to decide about the best investment.”
Morel said it came down to a case of “need to have” versus “nice to have.”
“Certainly at most municipalities’ tables these days, that question about need to have versus nice to have is resonating pretty strongly,” he said.
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