Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

NNSL (Nov 11/98) - City council is putting renovations to Gerry Murphy Arena on hold until a feasibility study of the aging building, which has numerous safety problems, is complete sometime in 1999.

Council decided during its meeting Monday night to immediately allocate $50,000 for a feasibility study in lieu of spending the money this year to get the building up to code.

The fire marshall's office has identified several "life-threatening hazards" which have to be addressed before Dec. 31, 1999. Otherwise, a life safety order will be served on the City of Yellowknife and the arena could be closed down.

Despite calls from the sports community last week to close down the facility, fire marshall Don Gillis maintains people who use it aren't in any immediate danger.

"I have given the city until Dec. 31, 1999, to determine the life of that building," he said. "There are concerns and the administration is aware of it. If I thought the building was going to come down on someone, it wouldn't be open."

The repair bill for the arena, if it were to be used for another five years, is expected to be $1.7 million, according to estimates from Ferguson, Simek and Clark engineering firm.

Coun. Ben MacDonald, who, with Coun. Peggy Near, voted against the motion, said the city is wasting money by doing an additional study on the arena. The city is also spending $50,000 on an assessment for sports facilities in Yellowknife.

"The Gerry Murphy Arena is at the end of its road... seems we're going ahead with half the information," he said. "I think we're putting the cart before the horse. It's a waste of money."

Coun. Robert Slaven, who voted in favour of the motion, said council has waited long enough to determine the fate of the arena and should move fast to get the information required to make the decision.

"I hope we can do this quickly," he said. "This will give us a good solid foundation for decisions. I like to have an information base before spending the taxpayers money."