[0:01] This world.
>> This is
[0:04] Thank you.
>> [laughter]
[0:08] » Moving back to the council, we're at the
approval of the agenda. What is the
[0:11] wishes of the council?
Move to approve.
[0:16] Um Mayor Cooper,
if I may, I would like Can we get a
[0:20] second before we start moving? I would
like to I would like to I
[0:23] Second.
>> Ma'am,
[0:24] I would like to give a
a second and once we get the approval of
[0:26] the agenda, then we will go and do the
the things to move if you'd like.
[0:30] Second.
I already second it. We all second.
[0:34] All right, now for open for discussion.
Miss
[0:36] Councilwoman Mosher. Yes, I would like
to move
[0:39] item B I to
J
[0:44] for uh
under unfinished business.
[0:49] And I would like to move
uh items D E F
[0:56] G J K and L to item K
for further discussion.
[1:04] And item K is
action memorandums. Yes, can I recommend
[1:09] that we move the action memorandums to
item I, which is the actual action
[1:13] memorandum part of the agenda? Right. I
don't mind. Yes, we can move it there.
[1:18] You're welcome.
Perfect. Thank you.
[1:21] All right,
so moved.
[1:25] And just for the information of all
council members, we don't need to vote
[1:28] on that. I know we have in the past, but
once a council member recommends it,
[1:32] then we'll just move that. And Madam
Clerk, if you would
[1:35] pay closer attention to that than I
will, that would be great. Thank you.
[1:40] Mayor, I would also like to move items
M and N
[1:45] to section I to item I.
[1:51] Oh, okay. Okay.
So, before we vote, I just want to make
[1:55] sure that we have all the amendments
correct. So, we are moving the
[1:59] introduction of ordinance 26-002
and instead of J unfinished business,
[2:05] cuz technically it's not, I would say K
new business.
[2:09] So, K2
and then I have D E F G
[2:17] J K L M N be moved to item I, which is
action memorandums.
[2:26] Okay.
Please
[2:28] Please Please Please, if you would make
sure that we do what we're supposed to
[2:32] do when we get there. I will. And then
I'll take a roll call vote.
[2:37] Yes, ma'am. Okay. Mayor Cooper?
Yes.
[2:41] Council member Collins?
Yes.
[2:45] Deputy Mayor Al Kamitra?
Yes.
[2:49] Council member Graham?
Yes. Council member Mosher? Yes.
[2:54] Council member Allen? Yes. And council
member Carrington? Yes. It is unanimous.
[3:00] It's approved as amended.
Thank you very much.
[3:05] And if I look like I'm really confused,
I'm on three screens here and I'm my
[3:09] son-in-law set me up with and I'm trying
to figure out how to actually work them.
[3:14] So, we're under communications and
appearance of requests. Um
[3:19] I guess we have it's a proclamation
recognizing National Telecommunicators
[3:25] Week.
And is
[3:28] Councilwoman Graham, are you reading
that proclamation?
[3:31] Please.
[3:42] And if you'd please take the mic.
[4:00] This is a proclamation recognizing
National Telecommunicators Week, which
[4:04] is April 12th through 18th, 2026.
Public safety telecommunicators are the
[4:11] first and foremost critical point of
contact for residents in times of
[4:13] emergency, providing a vital link
between the public and emergency
[4:16] services. These dedicated professionals
answer emergency and non-emergency
[4:21] calls, dispatch police, fire and
emergency medical services and provide
[4:24] life-saving instructions to callers
under stressful and often
[4:27] life-threatening circumstances.
City of Palmer dispatchers demonstrate
[4:31] exceptional professionalism, compassion
and composure while serving the
[4:34] community 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Their work is essential to the safety
[4:39] and well-being of the residents of
Palmer, often going unseen, yet making a
[4:42] profound difference in emergency
response outcomes.
[4:45] National Public Safety Telecommunicators
Week provides an opportunity to
[4:48] recognize and honor their commitment,
sacrifice and service of these
[4:52] individuals who are serve as calm voices
in moments of crisis.
[4:57] Now, therefore, by the mayor and city
council of Palmer, Alaska, we do hereby
[5:00] April 12th through the 18th, 2026 as
National Telecommunicators Week in the
[5:05] city of Palmer and encourage all
residents to join in recognizing the
[5:08] invaluable contributions of our public
safety telecommunicators.
[5:13] » [applause]
>> Thank you.
[5:15] Well done.
[5:26] Do they
Amanda, do they want to say anything?
[5:32] » [laughter]
>> No, they're fine.
[5:34] Okay. All right.
[5:39] Short break.
[5:50] Smile, Mr. Mayor.
>> [laughter]
[6:00] » I I think
uh former council
[6:03] member member Tutor's job has been just
been taken over by Councilwoman Graham
[6:08] and the picture taking department.
[6:15] Okay, moving on moving on. We have the
Alaska Center for the Blind and Visually
[6:19] Impaired presentation.
Folks, please come forward and
[6:27] Her name's Jackie Olson.
Okay, thank you.
[6:39] Can you hear me? Yeah. Yeah.
Hi, my name's Jackie Olson. Thank you
[6:43] for having me. I work with the Alaska
Center for the Blind and Visually
[6:47] Impaired here in the Valley.
I'm the Matsu program
[6:52] coordinator. I go out and I find blind
people. By the way, there's 18% of
[6:57] Alaskans are visually impaired or
legally blind.
[7:01] Um it's only me from Sutton all the way
up to Trapper Creek, but I go out and I
[7:06] find people and I figure out what they
need and then I try to find the
[7:11] services, the devices and the equipment
to get them what they need. Um we are
[7:17] grant funded through the Matsu Health
Foundation and we are also donation
[7:21] funded. Um we have right now two social
groups I put on a month for anyone
[7:28] visually impaired. They're more
educational and we have a lot of fun.
[7:33] We also have what's called a low vision
clinic once a month. That's where I use
[7:38] my grant to try to buy you the devices
and the services and the training that
[7:41] you might need. Mostly today, I just
wanted to bring awareness, let you know
[7:46] we're here. We've been here for a long
time. We've actually been in Alaska
[7:49] since 1972.
Um but no one hears of us unless they
[7:53] lose their vision. So, I'm here to tell
you that that it can happen to anyone.
[7:59] Um most of us expect it to be something
age-related, but you know, one quick
[8:03] accident, one sickness, anything can
happen. So, I'm just here to say if you
[8:08] know anyone vision impaired, let them
know we're here. I'm located in the
[8:12] Matsu Health Foundation building.
Um
[8:15] I'm also trying to get out there and
push anywhere I can advertise, so I
[8:20] appreciate anything you can do for us
and I just appreciate your time.
[8:25] Thanks.
Jackie, I have a question for you.
[8:29] Um I might have missed this. Do you get
all your funding through
[8:33] grants or from the Matsu Health
Foundation or through any through the
[8:37] state?
I don't get any through the state right
[8:40] now. It's all grant funded and hopefully
donation funded, but not a lot of
[8:45] donations either.
So, is the majority through the MSFHF or
[8:49] » Yes. For the for the Valley grant, for
the Valley people. In Anchorage, we get
[8:53] a little bit more funding,
but still we don't get any state or
[8:59] federal funding. So. All right. All
right, ma'am. Thank you.
[9:02] » Any other quick questions before I sit
down?
[9:05] All [snorts] right. Well, thank you.
Thank you.
[9:12] » [applause]
[9:16] » Moving on to the reports.
Madam Manager, please.
[9:21] Thank you. In addition to the online
published report in the packet was just
[9:25] a recap of the finance director's last
enterprise golf enterprise
[9:30] financial status. I have a few comments.
It was just more intended to bring that
[9:36] report back up to
the public because there was some
[9:40] discussion, just making it more
available for everyone.
[9:44] On tonight's agenda for introduction is
a proposed code change to allow
[9:48] individuals under the age of 18 to work
for the city.
[9:51] And this change would allow 16-year-olds
to apply for available positions across
[9:57] the city and we currently have openings
that would be perfect for some of these
[10:01] kids that need some summertime jobs and
those looking to work and kind of step
[10:05] into the workforce and then get
introduced to government service.
[10:09] And then also moving on the official
library groundbreaking ceremony will
[10:12] take place on May 30th at 3:00 p.m.
followed by a celebration
[10:17] at the Depot and of course construction
activity will occur before then because
[10:22] we are going to take advantage of the
spring season but we are going to
[10:25] formally recognize the milestone on May
30th.
[10:29] Additionally celebrate Palmer will be
held on April 29th marking the 75th
[10:34] anniversary of Palmer's founding.
The event will take place at the Palmer
[10:38] Municipal Golf Course Clubhouse and
we're planning a variety of activities
[10:42] for all ages and will also be a great
opportunity to experience the
[10:46] reconfigured space that we're working
on.
[10:48] Community development Ailish has done an
excellent job of completing and
[10:53] going through several improvements at
the Clubhouse including painting
[10:57] reorganizing some flooring and enhancing
the overall functionality of the space
[11:02] to enjoy this beautiful asset that we
have.
[11:05] And it's actually a very beautiful space
so if anyone hasn't been out there
[11:08] please come out celebrate Palmer April
29th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
[11:14] Also May 2nd through the 3rd the Great
Alaska Aviation Gathering will take
[11:19] place at the Palmer Municipal Airport
and Alaska State Fairgrounds. Again come
[11:23] out support our aviation community and
experience what Palmer Airport and
[11:28] Alaska State Fair has to do with this
great gathering.
[11:32] I'm also pleased to announce that we've
hired a new Golf Course Manager John
[11:36] Scharck.
John brings extensive experience in
[11:39] South Central Alaska including his time
at Settlers Bay along with his strong
[11:43] leadership skills and true city first
mindset and we encourage everyone to
[11:47] come out and meet John April 29th at the
grand reopening which will also be
[11:52] celebrate Palmer and then in a moment I
will bring Ailish up for a
[11:58] introduction on the sports center
including sponsorship opportunities at
[12:02] the new sports center and a recap of the
ice season but before that I will bring
[12:07] John up
right after this to kind of introduce
[12:10] himself. Finally I see some PAHA
team members here in the audience and I
[12:16] just want to say congratulations on your
state championship we win a few weeks
[12:20] ago. That was in a very exciting game to
watch and Palmer's very proud of you
[12:24] guys accomplishments. That was excellent
win. Congratulations. John you ready?
[12:30] Yep.
[12:34] Do I need this mic? I don't think so.
>> [laughter]
[12:37] » They can't hear you over zoom if you
don't use the mic. Correct. Oh they can
[12:41] hear me.
They might through my mic. How's that?
[12:44] Is that
Is it on? It's on. Okay.
[12:47] Greetings.
Uh been a whirlwind
[12:51] week and
so
[12:54] I'll give a little
quick self history
[12:57] 50 years in the state of Alaska
um
[13:01] and I'm a retired school teacher from
Wasilla High School.
[13:06] And
and so I've also I spent 20 years
[13:11] in the golf
industry
[13:14] prior to
this new job
[13:16] and I like to call it the Palmer
Municipal Golf Course West
[13:23] otherwise known as Settlers Bay.
Um
[13:27] and and while I was there at Settlers
Bay I did uh
[13:43] Benji we've lost
lost the
[13:49] I just texted Allison she said she's
still there so we're okay.
[13:56] I cannot hear um
Oh you can't hear Mr. Scharck? Okay
[14:00] here. No. Okay go ahead. Is it on?
Give it a tap. Hold it for 3 seconds on
[14:05] the
Yeah I can hear him now. You got me?
[14:10] Yes. Okay sorry about that.
[14:14] So
so moving forward you know like uh
[14:18] the city manager spoke about the um
the um
[14:22] painting and and the recapping of the
of the pro shop there. Um Ailish
[14:29] Brian Zach Penny have done a phenomenal
job of of that. We're still in the
[14:35] process but they have spent endless
hours of it and I really appreciate it.
[14:41] It's looking great
and look forward to the finished product
[14:46] of it.
Um they and I walked the golf course
[14:50] today and I was pleasantly surprised
that uh there was
[14:55] a
very limited amount of snow on the golf
[14:59] course
and water. I mean obviously there were
[15:03] going to be some but um
it's uh it's getting getting there
[15:07] closer than I imagined.
We have done some hiring we are in the
[15:12] process of still doing some hiring
and hopefully we can get a grounds crews
[15:16] out there
very soon to start removing some tarps
[15:21] and debris off the golf course.
Um
[15:28] Had a lot of a lot of people come in
a lot of a lot of positive feedback and
[15:33] um
and so I'm looking forward to it. I know
[15:36] there's been some there's been some
different dialogue out there.
[15:40] And and so hopefully we can move forward
from that.
[15:45] Um I'm hoping by the end of next week we
will have holes one and two paved
[15:51] for the airport.
That's a joke.
[15:55] » [laughter]
[15:57] » And um
and so
[16:01] so yeah I'm
I'm looking forward to it. It's
[16:04] going to be a adventure
and um
[16:08] I hope that it becomes positive.
Questions?
[16:13] Mr. Mayor.
Yes please.
[16:16] Yeah. Thank you Mr. Mayor.
Uh thank you Mr. Scharck for being here.
[16:20] I just wanted to let folks know it won't
come as any shock to anybody in this
[16:24] room or on the dais up here that I'm the
most vociferous voice of the city not
[16:29] running this golf course but
I've known John Scharck for 40 years. I
[16:35] shudder to think how long we've known
each other and
[16:37] and it's a great hire. I think he'll do
great things if we're going to have it
[16:42] run by the city. I think the city's made
an excellent choice and
[16:47] I look forward to seeing you out there
in the golf course on April 29th and see
[16:51] if we can get it open as soon as we can.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody
[16:56] else?
[17:00] Yes ma'am.
Real quick Mr. Mayor
[17:02] um Yes. can
[17:06] Never mind I'll I'll have it as an aside
never mind.
[17:10] All right thank you.
Uh
[17:12] Mr. Mayor.
Yes please. Uh
[17:15] actually a comment um not to Mr. Scharck
but on the uh
[17:19] uh introduction of that ordinance. Can I
comment on that?
[17:24] Just uh
the 26003.
[17:29] Positive.
>> [laughter]
[17:30] » Yeah and could you
>> [clears throat]
[17:32] » and John could you tell me which one
that that one is? Uh that's that's just
[17:35] the one recommended for public hearing
at our special meeting the the one to
[17:40] lower the age of hiring to 16.
Yeah let me let me ask you clerk a
[17:47] question. Did we move that one?
So Oh if we didn't then I'm I so it it
[17:51] was approved as part of the consent
agenda but as part of my report I was
[17:55] going to mention we can't have it on the
21st we need to have the public hearing
[17:59] on the 28th. Yes ma'am. Yeah so
you can certainly make a comment. Yeah
[18:04] just just briefly Mr. Mayor. As long
yeah. Yes please go yeah please go
[18:08] ahead. Uh I just wanted to say I'm
excited [clears throat] about this uh
[18:13] uh ordinance. I guess I didn't realize
never have realized that uh
[18:19] there was a 18-year-old requirement to
uh work for the city so um
[18:25] you know I I flash back on my older
brother going to Kodiak at 14 and
[18:30] sending checks home to raise the rest of
us when he was 15 years old. So I I uh
[18:36] and I know
people get hired at Carrs at 14 and 15
[18:39] but at Carrs grocery store not to drive
a car. So I just wondered is 16 I'll ask
[18:45] the city manager is 16
the the low point because of needing um
[18:51] employees to have driver's licenses and
things of that nature.
[18:54] Well with the firefighters through their
little youth program is 14 but 16 we
[18:59] wanted it so that it more of like
reliable transportation they can drive
[19:02] they can drive a golf cart if they want
to.
[19:05] Um just kind of hit that age level so
that they can be a little bit more
[19:09] reliable for other departments than just
working the fire truck. Thank you. I'll
[19:14] just say I'll save my comments for the
28th but I think it's a good step in the
[19:18] right direction. Thank you.
Thank you.
[19:22] Any other comments?
Yes ma'am.
[19:24] Sorry this is unrelated to the thing
earlier and I'm not sure if I should
[19:27] wait to ask this until after Ailish
comes up because this is more of a
[19:32] question for you regarding it is
regarding the golf course but I know
[19:35] AMCO had their meeting today. Do we have
any results from that?
[19:40] We were not on their agenda so there are
no results. It was
[19:44] not in table seven?
We were not we were not on their board
[19:49] packet for April 7th. No for today's
meeting. No we [clears throat] were not
[19:53] on their board packet. We did not
present. We were not before them today.
[19:56] Okay.
Thank you.
[20:01] All right, sir. Appreciate it. Thank you
for
[20:04] your introduction.
[20:10] So
So my report is pretty short. Mr. Mayor
[20:15] Sorry. I'm I'm sorry. Sorry. Sorry.
[20:20] » [laughter]
>> Elish, you're up. Okay. She's here.
[20:38] All right.
[20:41] Did it go off already?
>> [laughter]
[20:44] » No. I promise we can hear you, isn't
It's okay.
[20:47] Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name
is Elish Van. I am the Parks and
[20:51] Facilities Manager for the City of
Palmer.
[20:53] Uh we just finished up actually about 2
hours ago taking the ice out for the
[20:58] season. Less than 48 hours after we
turned off our compressor system. Not
[21:03] sure if that's a record or not, but um
I'm proud of my staff for for powering
[21:08] through that today.
And since Sunday night, um
[21:13] I want to start off by I'm
very honored to have our 10U A state
[21:20] champions joining us tonight. Um if
Reese and Gino and Zach, Kaya, who else?
[21:29] That's it. If you guys will stand,
please, and show them what you brought
[21:33] them to see.
>> [laughter]
[21:37] » Oh, nice. Nice.
Congratulations. [applause]
[21:43] So they're also here with their parents
and their coaches, Amanda Marshall,
[21:47] assistant coach Brian Cable, and
assistant coach Kirk Zarkou. Um I had
[21:52] the honor of getting to watch these kids
um compete in that championship. And um
[21:59] fight their little hearts out to win
that for the first time in 15 years the
[22:03] 10U A has brought home a state
championship. So I'm excited that
[22:08] they're here tonight um and also excited
and very supportive of changing the age
[22:13] for hiring because we've definitely been
working on these kids on training them
[22:17] how to work at the rink. Um so
>> [laughter]
[22:20] » they'll be more than ready by the time
they're 16 to uh to work at the rink
[22:24] that they all love so much.
So I'd like to start out with just um a
[22:29] quick season recap.
Our start date this year was August 3rd,
[22:33] which was a little bit more than a month
earlier than we had started my first
[22:38] year in 2024.
So we were really excited about that. We
[22:42] had a week-long camp and then we had a
several sheets for PAHA to do warm-up
[22:46] ice.
The high school got preseason ice out of
[22:50] all of that and it was amazing. Um so
August 3rd to April 12th was our season
[22:55] this year, which is awesome.
So our goal this year was to have 1,200
[23:01] sheets of ice. A sheet of ice is an
hour. And I just ran the numbers today
[23:05] and we're at 1,490.
So that was really exciting as well. Um
[23:11] we had a lot of people wanting to book
ice that we haven't seen before. We
[23:16] opened up the day after Thanksgiving to
host an overflow tournament from
[23:19] Chugiak. They were very grateful that we
were willing to do that. Uh we hosted an
[23:24] extra curling tournament this year and
many more curling
[23:29] learn to curls after the Olympics.
Everyone was really wanting to try
[23:32] curling.
Um so we we capitalized on that with the
[23:36] Palmer Curling Club. Um and so they had
you'll see from the sheet that I handed
[23:41] out to all of you
um that there's 368 new curlers floating
[23:45] around the world or around the valley, I
should say. Um and the sheet that I
[23:50] handed you is just some from 2025 or
2025 and 2026.
[23:55] Um so we're on track. We're breaking
records already this season. I didn't
[23:59] leave myself one of those copies. If
there's an extra one, I'll take it.
[24:03] » [laughter]
[24:09] » So as you can see, we're up already
almost beating our number from 2025 to
[24:14] 2026. We're only four under, which we
should have just tried a little bit
[24:18] harder to get four more public skaters.
Um but we still have more of our season
[24:22] left. So we have we'll
our numbers will go up in until the end
[24:26] of December this year. So
um our stick time, our stick and puck,
[24:30] these are both internal programming
opportunities we provide for the
[24:33] community. So that these numbers are
huge. Um we added a lot more public
[24:37] skates. We started doing neon public
skates, which were wildly popular. If I
[24:41] could do neon golf, I would absolutely
ask John permission to come out and do
[24:45] neon golf because the neon public skates
are such a good time. Um they do make
[24:50] neon golf balls, so we're halfway there.
Um [clears throat]
[24:53] So in addition to these public skate
numbers and these stick time numbers,
[24:57] we the pretzels down here, how many
pretzels our staff sold in 2025 versus
[25:01] 2026.
My guys are tired of pretzels for the
[25:05] season, so we're looking forward to not
selling any for the next few months. Um
[25:09] but also to recap our season, we're
proud to be the home of six
[25:14] championships this season alone, all
within our 10A um division of PAHA. So
[25:20] 10As [clears throat] and 10Bs, they each
won three. So we've got some really cute
[25:24] pictures of the teams in the rink
hanging up for those guys
[25:26] [clears throat] to see over the next
8 years of their life while they're
[25:30] playing at at Palmer. So we're excited
for that. I I encourage all of you to
[25:34] watch these kids
>> [clears throat]
[25:35] » behind me cuz they're they're pretty
amazing to watch and they're going to be
[25:38] nothing but incredible from here on out.
We got to host the Division II State
[25:43] High School Championships for the first
time ever uh in February. That kicked
[25:47] off our 5-week-long tournament uh
schedule where all those pretzels were
[25:51] sold. Excuse me.
Um that was an incredible experience.
[25:55] ASA was very pleased with our hosting.
They were
[26:01] they're excited that we're hosting next
year, too. So we'll be hosting the 2027
[26:04] High School State Championships as well.
And then we also did something new this
[26:08] year by hosting concerts on ice. We did
three of them.
[26:12] Uh the first one was in November as a
fundraiser for
[26:16] Mat-Su Special Santa. Uh we just had one
a couple weeks ago, which was a
[26:19] fundraiser for Mat-Su Sentinel, in which
we divided the ice for half of it was
[26:24] concert
and the other half we let people skate.
[26:27] And so that was really cool, including
the band also skated with their
[26:31] instruments while they they which was
awesome. If you haven't seen the videos,
[26:35] there are videos. Um and there was a
proposal during that concert as well and
[26:41] she said yes, apparently. So um it was a
really special season and I'm just
[26:46] honored to have gotten to spend 2 years
in this position and um
[26:51] watching kids grow up and watching the
community come out to this rink and just
[26:55] see people really take ownership of it
and and just having new people walk in
[27:00] the door every day not knowing
that it was even there. And we've been
[27:05] here for 20 years and we still have
people walk in every day that have never
[27:08] been there before. So
if I had numbers for you on how many
[27:13] walkers we see every day, that was
something we really pushed this season
[27:17] to encourage people to come walk around
the rink because as we all know, winter
[27:22] wasn't great. Okay, it's probably over,
but we just aren't really sure yet. So
[27:28] we had
we have the our same walkers that we
[27:31] always have, but we saw probably 10 to
15 new faces that we'd never seen before
[27:35] in my in my tenure. So that was really
exciting. People are
[27:39] very very grateful to have a warm, which
is weird to say, place to walk in the
[27:43] wintertime where there's no wind and um
and it's free to the community. So we we
[27:49] enjoy being able to offer that as well.
Um
[27:52] we did host 10 tournaments over the
course of the season
[27:56] and um
those were great. We're hoping to host
[28:01] more house tournaments next season to
show off and allow our house skaters to
[28:06] skate at their home rink. Um so
that's my recap for the year.
[28:12] Um
and I wanted the main reason I'm here
[28:15] other than to get a recap. I asked the
manager if I could do a recap because it
[28:19] was such an incredible season, but we've
been talking in uh internally about
[28:24] what the future of the rink looks like
and so you guys have a packet in front
[28:30] of you
and we are moving away from our branded
[28:34] licen- licensing agreement with MTA and
we're rebranding into the Palmer Sports
[28:40] Center, which we really feel is more
reflective of who we are now and where
[28:44] we're going. And so I'm not going to
read what I wrote in this packet for
[28:48] you. You can read it. Um but I just
wanted to
[28:54] tell you I wanted you guys to see this
first before we put this out on the
[28:57] street, but we to my knowledge, we've
never put a sponsorship packet like this
[29:01] together. And so this provides multiple
opportunities for people to be a part of
[29:06] our growth and
get their business in front of multiple
[29:11] people. 70,000 is what we had. I don't
have numbers for 2025. I'm sure it's
[29:15] more, but the our numbers from 2024 were
just about 70,000 over the course of the
[29:20] season. And really like we're only open
September through April. So that's in 8
[29:25] months, 9 months. And so
it's a lot of people and we're excited
[29:30] to move forward with this offering
opportunities for people that are low
[29:35] dollar value up into the high dollar
value. And you can see from this packet
[29:39] that it is low dollar up into high
dollar. Um
[29:42] last fall, we were when budgets were
being presented, there was talk of more
[29:49] research and everything going into a
second or into an outdoor rink at at our
[29:54] facility, and that was something that
really excited myself and every single
[29:58] person in this room that plays hockey
because there's been a lot of people
[30:02] asking me about a second sheet of ice
and what can we do to get more ice? Can
[30:05] we be open in the summer? All the things
because there's lots and lots of growth
[30:10] in hockey, in curling,
and it's it's pretty crazy to think
[30:15] about. So, um
we are
[30:18] I would like to be future-focused
on the rink, the outdoor sheet, and so
[30:24] we're going to try and work on funding
and
[30:28] finding um
grants and
[30:31] sponsorships to help us build an outdoor
rink that can hopefully one day become a
[30:35] second fully refrigerated sheet of ice.
Building it with the future in mind, but
[30:41] not investing in the new refrigeration
system, which believe it or not is going
[30:45] to be more expensive than all the rest
of it. It's all expensive, but we are
[30:49] hopeful that
it will be ready to go so we don't turn
[30:53] into Big Lake, which is just now being
run by the borough, and they're going to
[30:56] rip all the concrete out and refrigerate
it. So, I don't want us I don't as like
[31:00] as a taxpayer and as a city employee, I
don't really want to do it backwards. I
[31:03] would rather
maybe never need the refrigeration, but
[31:06] we have it there if we need it.
Um and that would involve adding a third
[31:10] compressor to our two existing that we
have. So,
[31:13] » [clears throat]
>> it's a big deal, but I want to just
[31:16] plant the seed that I think that that's
how we should move forward. Um
[31:21] and I have a lot of people who uh that
are very much behind this as well. So,
[31:26] um that is our goal, and we will work on
some sort of
[31:30] bigger funding project and present
[clears throat] that to you guys at a
[31:33] later time.