Mayor will cast deciding vote
Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Feb 09/01) - A single-pad arena will be built beside the Sir John Franklin high school unless one councillor or the mayor has a sudden change of heart.
As it stands, council will be deadlocked on the issue Monday night and Mayor Gord Van Tighem will cast the deciding vote in favour of a single pad arena.
Yellowknifer polled six of eight councillors on Wednesday.
Councillors Alan Woytuik, Wendy Bisaro and Robert Hawkins all said they would vote for the public services committee's recommendation that a single-pad arena be built.
Councillors Dave Ramsay, Kevin O'Reilly, and Ben McDonald said they would vote against the recommendation and push for a phased twin-pad arena -- the original recommendation.
Coun. Dave McCann--who as of press time was on business in Inuvik -- has said in the past he supports a single-pad arena. According to Coun. Dave Ramsay, Coun. Blake Lyons -- who could not be reached by press time -- is in favour of the original recommendation.
With both sides at a stalemate it's up to the mayor to cast the deciding vote.
Considering Mayor Gord Van Tighem voted in favour of a single-pad arena at Tuesday's committee meeting, he will cast the tie breaking vote in favour of a single pad arena.
Van Tighem is in Ottawa until Monday.
"I will vote against the single pad arena," said Coun. Kevin O'Reilly.
"It surprised me the mayor and other voracious councillors who voted for the single pad arena also preach fiscal responsibility," he said.
"It costs more to have two separate ice sheets," said O'Reilly.
According to Coun. Ben McDonald, if the city plans on building one single-pad arena now and one later a possible tax cut in the future is thrown out the window.
"Two separate single pad arenas will cost the city an additional $180,000 in operating costs a year," said McDonald.
But Coun. Alan Woytuik believes the nay-sayers are missing the mark.
He said the city will eventually save money by building a single pad arena attached to a much needed community centre on the Yellowknife Correctional Centre site.
"It costs less to build a single pad now," said Woytuik.
"In the future, with an arena at the YCC site you could have one heating source between the arena and the community centre and one care taker could take care of both buildings," he said.
Overcrowding issues for students at Sir John Franklin are a concern for Coun. Wendy Bisaro.
"I just think if we put two arenas there it will have an impact on outside space for students," she said.
"School space is community space. The community partly loses and the school partly loses," she said.
All councillors polled said the issue would be resolved by the end of the council meeting.
Council has the option to accept, amend, refer to committee, or reject the public services committee.
