An Estevan organization will look to make a seasonal attraction a permanent fixture of a local park, and is looking for support from the City of Estevan to do it. The Estevan Lions Club has, after gathering a good amount of money on their own, asked the City of Estevan to pitch in money to make the rink boards at Rusty Duce Park a permanent feature.
The new, permanent rink will be the same size as the old replaceable one, with the new rink being installed by Athletic Sport Systems.
City Manager Jeff Ward talks about the project and how they're looking to support the organization.
"This is something that's been kind of in the works the last couple of years, and it seems that we're to a point now where we know kind of the costs, and the Lions have a significant amount of funds put towards these permanent rink boards at Rusty Deuce."
The project, which has a total cost of around $165,000, would use $110,000 of the Lions Club's own money, with the other $50,000 given to them by the City in the form of a five-year interest-free loan.
Ward says that money may even come back to the City sooner.
"They mentioned they'd like to pay that back earlier with some of the fundraising money that they expect to earn over the next couple years, so Council made that motion to get those rink boards put in this year and be paid back from the Lions with a zero cost to city taxpayers for this, besides the interest-free loan over the next, potentially up to five years."
The motion did go through with one caveat from the gathered councillors, who stated that they wanted any overages from the initial costing to be handled by the club's loan, which would be extended.
Ward says it's mainly a precaution as he feels the project isn't overly complicated at this stage.
"The project is fairly simple, and we have some quotes for the boards, the fencing, and the pilings to put them into the ground, so we're hoping there is no overages, but they did mention that if there is overages that they would be added to the loan, whether it extended."
Any challenges that do come up will first be brought to the council for discussion.
The Lions Club of Estevan plans to have the rink constructed by the fall season of 2025, with more details to come.