Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 24/02) - City council is keeping its fingers crossed, hoping that Yellowknife will not be stuck with only one available sheet of ice come fall.

Last April, some councillors pondered the possibility of keeping the aging Gerry Murphy arena open this year in the event the first phase of the twin-pad arena, currently under construction, is not complete in time for the skating season to begin in September.

At last Monday's priorities, policies and budget committee meeting, however, it was revealed that keeping Gerry Murphy open would cost over $250,000 a year to operate and another $1,800,000 to bring it up to code.

NWT fire marshal Don Gillis wants the rink to remain closed.

Coun. Dave Ramsay, who had earlier suggested Gerry Murphy be re-opened this year, told councillors last Monday that he didn't think the new arena will be nearly ready come its scheduled Sept. 20 opening date.

"I'd be surprised if it's open by mid-October or even Halloween," Ramsay later said. "As it stands now, our ice users are in limbo, and it's up to us to correct it."

Ramsay said he wouldn't support paying the $1.8 million, but felt the fire marshal could buy ice users some time by allowing Gerry Murphy to remain open for a couple of months this fall.

"I can't understand why the fire marshal would allow it to be open until (last) April, but not four months later," said Ramsay.

Coun. Kevin O'Reilly said he would only support re-opening Gerry Murphy if the Phase I pad looked like it was going to be delayed more than a few weeks, and only if the fire marshal gave his blessing and the cost was not prohibitive.

Otherwise, he would support an alternating schedule between ice users at the Yellowknife Community arena and the remaining groups, such has been done before when the Gerry Murphy was closed.

"If it's only a matter of a few weeks after Sept. 20, I'm not sure (opening Gerry Murphy) is something we want to do," said O'Reilly.

Other councillors were willing to seek approval from Gillis to re-open Gerry Murphy for a few months if necessary, but only if they could get around the enormous costs outlined by a report by Ferguson, Simek, Clark Engineers and Architects.

The 50-year-old Gerry Murphy came close to burning down last May when several dressing rooms in a nearby portable caught fire.

Gillis could not be reached for comment.

Ter Hamer, honourary governor of the Wade Hamer Foundation and original proponent of the new arena, said Gerry Murphy shouldn't be opened no matter how desperate the need for ice space.

"The Gerry Murphy is simply unsafe," said Hamer. "I wouldn't open it under any circumstances."

Sport North president Abe Theil, however, said he would support keeping the rink open for at least a couple of months.

He said only one rink, especially at the start of the season, could put user groups, such as hockey, broomball and figure skating organizations, weeks behind schedule.

"It'll be a significant amount of pressure on the user groups the first couple of months," said Theil.