Making sure skaters have a good roof over their heads could cost taxpayers $1 million. And residents won't have a say over the expenditure since council defeated a motion to seek public approval .The arena roof at Brennan Park has a number of leaks that contractors are no longer willing to patch up, said recreation director Bob Kusch during a District of Squamish council meeting Tuesday (Feb. 19). If the roof isn't replaced this summer, the arena could be closed next year."The roof has to be replaced no matter what or else we do, I believe, create the opportunity where we may need to shut down next year if we have a heavy pack or rainfall," said services manager Janet Gugins.Kusch and Gugins requested the early release of no more than $1 million to replace the arena roof. The figure was based on a contractor's estimate, however there was no engineering report accompanying it.Gugins said the report would come later once a Request for Proposals (RFP) was prepared, and added a shortage of contractors made it essential that staff act sooner rather than later."We are shooting a little bit in the dark, there's no doubt about that, but it's only due to a sense of urgency," she said. "We could go through this process and we might not be able to retain a contractor."Some councillors seemed uneasy with the approach."It's not sitting good with me and I don't think it would sit good in public eye either," said Coun. Raj Kahlon.Coun. Corinne Lonsdale said spending $1 million could require public approval and put forward a motion that council go through an Alternate Approvals Process before moving forward with the loan."In the old days when we had to ask the public to do anything, we asked them first," she said. "We actually are doing it in reverse these days and we're lucky we haven't gotten stung yet."All of council voted in favour of seeing an RFP before approving the funds. Kahlon, Coun. Jeff McKenzie, Coun. Patricia Heintzman, Coun. Mike Jenson and Mayor Ian Sutherland rejected Lonsdale's motion to get public approval before authorizing the loan while Coun. Greg Gardner voted in favour of it.
