Council for the Municipality of Rhineland has made the difficult decision not to open the Plum Coulee Arena this winter.
   
A fire at the adjoining Community Hall last May resulted in serious smoke damage to the rink facility and clean-up efforts have been ongoing ever since.

Reeve Don Wiebe says however, Council decided to take this opportunity and make significant and long-awaited improvements to both the hall and arena. He explains the scope of work being considered cannot be done quickly.

"We are working with the insurance company and they are willing to give us some credit if we can make the cleaning simpler for them, because the whole arena needs to

submitted by Municipality of Rhinelandbe cleaned - it smells like smoke. So one of the things...is if we had a cement floor. So that's a very good thing to consider."

Wiebe goes on to say Council agreed that to make this happen, it needed to apply for a Canada 150 grant of about $300,000. He expects an update on the grant approval status sometime in September.

Meantime, Council is also anticipating an estate coming to the Municipality with proceeds designated for the arena.

submitted by Municipality of RhinelandOther planned work includes maximizing the geothermal system already in place at the building. "It needs some re-jigging," explains Wiebe.

He adds the dressing rooms at the arena also needed to be made bigger and more suitable for teams to use.

Because these projects require engineering and planning, Wiebe says they won't be done in time for the 2016-17 season. "This stuff takes some time and just can't be done in a couple of months."

He notes "The people that use the facilities have told us...the lobby was cramped and the dressing rooms were very small. We can improve all of that and the insurance company is willing to do that."

Wiebe adds although this work is inconvenient in the short-term, Council is confident the improvements will make the facility better in the future.

Council is also looking to improve amenities at the Community Hall including lighting, acoustics, the heating system and insulation.

Wiebe says a public meeting will be held once there is a plan for the building,  offering residents a glimpse of what is to come and an opportunity to offer some feedback.