When the ice plant at the Stettler Recreation Centre (SRC) started having problems, culminating into a major breakdown over Christmas break, the Town of Stettler along with the SRC decided to address this issue.
“It was a must-do. We often refer to the Stettler Rec Centre as the ‘jewel of our community,’ and it was time,” said Malcolm Fischer, one of the town councillors. “We got lucky during Christmas that we managed to find the part, which was also used because the ice plant is just that old.”
The existing ice plant at the Stettler Recreation Centre is 22 years old.
According to Lee Penner, director of Parks and Leisure, an ice plant’s life expectancy in the province of Alberta is 20 years.
“The Parks and Leisure Services staff have experienced significant equipment failure recently and a new plant is needed,” Penner added.
The 2017 capital budget includes the replacement of the existing original ice plant at the SRC.
Outlined in the report prepared in December 2016, Williams Engineering Canada indicated that “in general, the mechanical systems appear to be in good to poor condition. One major issue of note concerns the operational condition of the original arena ice plant, which is currently close to failure.”
The report also stated that “the main component in need of replacement is the ice plant. It is not performing as it should and may or may not make it through the current season. Replacement is necessary.”
Speaking about the major breakdown during Christmas, Town of Stettler CAO Greg Switenky commented, “If we didn’t get the necessary part then, we could have missed half the hockey season, it was imperative that we got this going.”
At the Nov. 15, 2016 council meeting, the motion was moved by councillor Darcy Bachman that the Town of Stettler Council award the SRC Phase 2 – Ice Plant Replacement Engineering and Design to Williams Engineering Canada for the amount of $69,200.00 with funding to come from the lntermunicipal Collaboration Component of the Alberta Community Partnership Grant and the 2016 Capital Budget.
Requests for tenders were sent on March 22, 2017 by Williams Engineering, to invited companies, and a required walkthrough was conducted on March 30 with all contractors who would submit bids.
Six refrigeration contractors attended the mandatory site walkthrough – Cimco Refrigeration, Code Red Refrigeration, Diamond Services Group, Gateway Mechanical Services, Startec Refrigeration, and Stevenson Industrial Refrigeration.
Three of the six contractors submitted bids for the project, with a fourth bid being received from CanWest Refrigeration who was not confirmed to attend the mandatory site walkthrough and therefore was ineligible to bid.
Based on the tender results, Williams Engineering recommended that the Town of Stettler enters into a contract with Gateway Mechanical Services to proceed with the project.
According to the staff recommendations, the Town of Stettler should proceed with the purchase of the SRC ice plant in the amount of $1,294,565.00, which includes $1,244,565.00, excluding GST, for the ice plant and $50,000 contingency from Gateway Refrigeration Ltd., with funding to come from a number of sources in the 2017 Capital Budget. Administration further recommended that council allocates $93,300, which represents 35 per cent of the County of Stettler 2018 Capital Payment as per the Recreation Agreement, back to the General Account in 2018.