Alnwick/Haldimand Township council voted down proposed changes to the operating hours and more than $52,000 in savings at the Haldimand Memorial Arena in Grafton during Tuesday’s council meeting, but approved a separate motion seeking more information and community engagement in the process.
A report from Manager of Parks, Recreation and Facilities Jeremy Giles suggested a reduction in non-prime hours and that the arena be open instead from 3 to 11 p.m. Monday to Friday and 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and holidays.
Rentals requested outside of those hours would be permitted on an as-needed basis either in blocks of four hours or immediately preceding or following the arena standard operating hours.
Giles’ report stated the arena has historically operated seven days a week from 9 a.m. until 11 p.m. Prime ice time is considered to be after 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and anytime during weekends and holidays.
During the 2024/25 season, the arena was rented for 988 hours and 900.5 were during prime time.
There were 872 non-prime hours available and only 87.5 hours of rentals.
The facility is expected to open for the season Oct. 14 and the report states there is no impact on the allocation process as none of the booking requests have been for non-prime time hours.
Any necessary schedule changes would be made to daytime drop-in recreational programs such as shinny, stick and puck and public skating, which staff believe are important to continue despite historically low participation rates. Giles said they could be accommodated in the 3 p.m. slot.
Deputy Mayor Joan Stover asked how the change would affect elementary school classes that use the arena for skating. Giles said there were about 12.1 hours booked by schools last year.
“The report does talk about if groups of bookings are made with enough notice and a block of time that makes sense and it can be accommodated then obviously we will do that,” Giles said, noting in past years the arena was open during the day and staff waited for bookings while the proposed changes would have it closed during the daytime and responding to booking requests.
Councillor Greg Booth asked if the school would normally book four hours, which was one of the conditions in the report for daytime bookings. Giles said it could be negotiable for the school. The challenge with private bookings during the daytime would be meeting minimum shift length requirements for staff called in to work.
Mayor John Logel suggested reaching out to the school to let them know the municipality still welcomes them and will accommodate as best it can.
Booth asked if there would be accommodation for the “men’s Monday and Thursday rental that historically has been there for twenty-something years that play in the daytime.”
Giles said he believed Booth was referencing the adult shinny drop-in program and noted the report stated it would be moved to the 3 p.m. hour.
Booth was also concerned the daytime closure would result in no compressor readings from 14 to 16 hours. He was told there was no issue.
Logel sought clarification if the shinny users rent the ice or just show up.
“Shinny is a drop-in program at $5 per player,” Giles said. “Sometimes they don’t get enough (players) to run, sometimes 10 to 15.”
The mayor wondered if that was enough to cover the costs of having the arena open and asked about the cost to operate per hour, but Giles didn’t have that figure available.
Stover said the potential cost savings was significant and suggested it be a good time to have a meeting with the user groups to talk about the costs and possible changes.
“The one specific group that we seem to be talking about right now, I want to remind everybody, not a group, it’s a drop-in shinny program,” Giles said. “We don’t collect any people’s information or anything like that when they play.”
He noted public skating is another drop-in program and doesn’t have specific contact information to reach people who attend the sessions.
Stover thought it would be a good idea to let residents know they’re trying to operate the arena as cost-efficiently as possible.
Councillor Mike Ainsworth said he realizes shinny is a drop-in program, but the players organize themselves and he thought it was important to accommodate the group. He wondered if a motion passed earlier in the meeting for user groups to keep their same booking times from one year to the next would apply in this situation.
“The motion that you passed speaks to user groups, this is a drop-in program,” Giles reminded.
Booth suggested moving drop-in programs to 3 p.m. isn’t ideal because the timing conflicts with school pickups. The daytime programs have been offered because staff were working at the arena.
“Even if you only collect three or four people that come in for public skating at two bucks apiece, it’s better than nothing and it’s open up for the public to use it,” Booth said.
Booth thought next year at this time would be more appropriate for this kind of change and after discussions with user groups and the fundraising committee.
Stover also wondered about having a meeting with user groups to explain the savings to the municipality.
Logel asked Giles who his contact is for the groups or if he has any.
“Again, we’re talking about drop-in daytime programming. We don’t have contacts because these are not groups,” Giles said.
There was some agreement among councillors to the thought of potentially moving all of the daytime programming to one or two of the weekdays rather than it being spread out.
Logel reminded councillors that while $52,000 in savings might not seem like a large amount, it still equates to about a three-quarters a per cent of a tax increase.
Booth reasoned that cost savings is great, but it also means cutting service.
Stover suggested an amended motion that included consulting daytime user groups. Ainsworth thought social media might be a way to spread the word and Logel echoed the sentiment, reminding that there were no contacts for drop-in programs.
It changed to a motion to defer to allow for a public meeting to take place, but that option did not receive a seconder so it was defeated.
That left the original motion to approve the reduction of hours put forward in the staff report and it was defeated by council.
Council did end up passing a separate motion after further urging by Stover that another report be brought to council with information about cost saving initiatives for operating the arena and that the community be engaged in the process.
Author: Pete Fisher
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