It is absolutely appalling that City Council essentially gave the green light to the Ice Oval Society earlier this week on the construction of the ice oval without having one single shred of information on the project before them

What was the value of the gravel (City Owned) removed from the site.

What was the value of the excavation work that was done on the site?

What is the cost to construct the new Ice Oval at the Exhibition Grounds?

How many Ice oval skaters are there in the city?

Who gave the Ice Oval society the right to enter into an agreement with the city and what are those conditions.

What is a confirmed cost for final development of the oval, phase 1?

Where are the bids for the proposed second phase for the Ice Oval, not estimated but prices?

So far we do know that the city gave the Ice Oval society a letter which spells out the access to the site by the Ice Oval society. We don’t know what the arrangements are with the successful bidder, IDL construction. what the cost of the excavation was . We do know that the price of the removed gravel according to three estimates Opinion250 has received is $ 6.00 dollars a cubic meter. What quantity of gravel was removed from the site is not known although the Ice Oval Society where saying at Mondays council meeting that they could get upwards of $42,000 dollars at $2.00 dollars for the excess of the gravel.

As one reader pointed out last week, they would like some of the city gravel as well.

To place the final nail in the coffin Mayor Colin Kinsley offered up his support for any application that the Society would make to the federal and provincial government to access grants from these levels of government.

Surely to God before we set the Ice Oval as the top priority in the city we had better do some consulting with those people who he represents, it comes to mind the Cameron St Bridge, roads that need improvements, and finally if we look at the community use there is no question that a performing arts center would serve far more people.

This whole project cries out for a through examination, but all that council could do this week was heap blessings on it. I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.