Ice Oval Dollars On Hold

Monday, September 10, 2007 08:19 PM

Architectural Design of new skating oval

In presenting an update to Prince George City Council on the progress of the new Ice Oval, the Outdoor Ice Oval Society submitted a request for a $50 thousand dollar capital grant..

But, it will be a while yet before the Ice Oval Soceity gets any further cash from the city. Prince George City Council has decided to refer the request to Administration, Council wants two answers, one: a better idea on electrical and fencing costs, and secondly, some direction as to where the dollars could be found.

Councilor Sherry Sethen wanted to know if there had been bids accepted for the cost of the excavation. Ice Oval Society president Anne Pousette says while there had been bids, only one suggested the cost of the excavation would be covered by the sale of the gravel, along with a surplus. She says the bids had come in from $80 thousand to $400 thousand, but she says the cost of excavation has probably worked out to be about $250 thousand dollars.

While the Ice Oval Society hasn’t received any money yet, Pousette says they have a contract saying they will get back about $2.00 per cubic meter , which could be a total of up to $44 thousand dollars.

The $50 thousand dollar grant would bring to $81,300 in cash the Outdoor Ice Oval Society has received from the City of Prince George, in addition to the value of the gravel being extracted and sold to CN for the intermodal site on First Avenue.

The Society outlined it’s revenue and expenses :

Expenses:

Item	Donated Value	Cost
Engineering		$ 7,000.
Excavation		---covered----
Fence (estimate)		$30 - 50,000. ( maximum)
Water (estimate)		$5 - 7,000. (maximum)
Electrical (estimate)		$12- 20,000 (maximum)
Lighting and poles	$16,000.	-----------------
Landscaping (2008)		$65,000
Signs		$ 2,000
TOTAL		*$121,000 - $151,000 (maximum)*

Revenue:

Source	Amount
OIOS	$ 5,000
Gravel Sale Surplus ( low estimate)	$40 - 44,000
Direct Access Grant ( apply Nov 2007)	$60,000
Capital Gant From City of Prince George (estimate for water, electrical and fencing)	$50,000
Total	$150,000- 159,000

Pousette says the society has spent a great deal of time over the past year presenting their case to various government offices looking for support "In each and every case, they said this was a fantastic idea, but no body said here’s a stack of bills."

Mayor Coin Kinsley says this is an opportunity to see some federal payback to this region. "With two members in government now, this is an opportunity they should not miss."
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Posted on Monday, September 10, 2007 08:19 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Moses on September 10 2007 9:52 PM

'the bids had come in from $80 thousand to $400 thousand, but she says the cost of excavation has probably worked out to be about $250 thousand dollars.'

A five-fold difference in 'bid' price for excavating a hole of known depth and dimensions?

And the cost is 'probably' 'about' a quarter of a million dollars?

What moron put that tender package together??

A better question is, was there even a tender package at all, or just horse-trading of public (taxpayer) property in favour of the 'Outdoor Ice Oval Society' (whatever that is).

Where the hell is Supply Services (City Purchasing) in all this??

Posted by: owl on September 10 2007 11:58 PM

The way I read it is that the bids were for the purchase of the gravel.

The cost of "mining" the gravel is not covered by the bid to purchase but is part of the cost of getting the gravel ready for sale.

The bottom line appears to be that they have a contract which guarantees them a net income of $2/cubic metre which will apparently come out to about $44,000.

So, it would be interesting to know how much net per cubic metre the excavating company is making and how much net CN is making by buying the gravel from the city versus from another source. Who is making the better net revenue? The owner, the processor, or the end user?

Posted by: owl on September 11 2007 12:03 AM

"With two members in government now, this is an opportunity they should not miss."

I have other opportunities they should not miss ...... how about an airport runway? An effective diversification plan to offset the MPB? A major component of a ring road around the city for industrial traffic? and on, and on, and on......

Posted by: Palopu on September 11 2007 8:07 AM

I thought that part of the question in regards to the removal of this gravel was whether or not the Ice Oval Society had the authority to remove it. My understanding was that this issue was to come back to Councel in June of 2006 but never did.

We are now talking as if they actually received approval, and then accepted bids. Who gave them the approval???