Kent Driscoll
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Aug 29/05) - Iqaluit city council went back on its decision to help the sinking arena.

When Iqaluit's chief administrative office Ian Fremantle returned to his office after his vacation, he convinced the city that the $329,000 to repair the sinking floor of the Arctic Winter Games arena wasn't worth it.

"They aren't really eliminating the problem," he said.

Fremantle was concerned that any temporary repairs would soon fall victim to the problem at hand: the ground underneath the arena is unstable.

At his urging, the city council repealed its decision to put more money into the rink.

The cause of the instability is still unknown, but FSC - a contractor hired to give the city opinions on the arena - believes water is washing away the sand underneath the foundation, and the $329,000 plan wouldn't address that. It called for new sand, new concrete for the floor, and a strengthening of the of the boards and walkways.

Fremantle asked council to wait until FSC - which was paid $15,000 to co-ordinate the repairs and tender documents - reports to council. That should happen at the Sept. 13 council meeting.

David St. Louis, Iqaluit's recreation director, was the acting CAO when Fremantle was on vacation.

He would like to see the arena open, but is getting by in the meantime.

"What suffers the most is the family skates, and some of the ice times aren't as pristine as we would like to see them," said St. Louis.