The cost of building and operating an ice arena needs to be borne by those using it, Mower County Coordinator Craig Oscarson reiterated Wednesday at a joint meeting of county and Austin officials.

Thursday, March 09, 2000

The cost of building and operating an ice arena needs to be borne by those using it, Mower County Coordinator Craig Oscarson reiterated Wednesday at a joint meeting of county and Austin officials.

That means everyone: big and little hockey players, figure skaters and the casual skater, Oscarson said.

His statement was part of a conversation between city and county staff and elected officials during the second of the recently established monthly city-county meetings. The two groups met in the Austin Housing and Redevelopment offices, which are located almost exactly halfway between the Mower County Courthouse and City Hall.

The group covered a range of topics before County Commissioner Ray Tucker finally broached the subject of the proposed multipurpose arena.

"Where exactly do we stand on this ice arena?" Tucker asked. "Last I heard, I think you wanted us to make up the difference."

Tucker was referring to the proposed multipurpose arena that was to be built on the Mower County Fairgrounds. The arena has been touted as the answer to both the needs of youth hockey in Austin as well as the needs of the fairgrounds. It started with a $4.5 million price tag. Now that price has jumped a minimum of $1.2 million, maybe more.

In February, when it was discovered that the estimates were higher than anticipated, the Mower County Board of Commissioners gave the Austin City Council three options: The council could make up the difference; see a lower quality building such as a pole shed; or cancel the project.

At that time, the city sent a letter back to the county asking that they find out what a building would look like if it were built for the original budget.

Now the two sides are trying to get beyond the current stalemate.

"We want to go ahead with the project, but you need to let us know what your decision is," Third Ward City Council member Dick Lang said. " … You’re the ones who said you were going to put the extra sheet in. Now the costs are increasing."

At this point, Oscarson made it clear that the county – if it did go ahead with the construction of the multipurpose arena – was in no way going to subsidize Austin hockey. The county’s promised portion of the bill was, and is, still set at $1.8 million.

"Ice is not a county objective," Oscarson said. "It is part of a solution to getting the building done. We always said the cost of the ice and running it must be paid for by others. We’re building because we have needs at the fairgrounds."

Larry Lyons, president of the Austin Youth Hockey Association, said this morning that the county’s position on ice wasn’t news to his organization.

"That was established, and we accepted that with the condition that we weren’t going to pay more for ice time than anyone else in the state," Lyons said. "If operating costs get out of hand, we won’t be able to cover it."

After several exchanges between city and county that included the words "pole barn" and "hurting youth hockey", the group resolved not to resolve anything yet, but to wait until more solid figures of the different options were available. One of those options may be the construction of a second sheet of ice at Riverside Arena, a move Third Ward City Council member Gloria Nordin favors and Mayor Bonnie Rietz thinks is a very poor choice.

The two sides did agree on one thing: both are eager to decide once and for all whether or not to proceed with the multipurpose arena at the fairgrounds.

"I want this to come to a head," Tucker said. "Our constituents don’t know where we’re going."