Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Sep 19/05) - The cupboards are bare and the rink is broken. With no more money left for capital projects in Iqaluit's budget, council ordered all departments to hunt down cash at last week's council meeting, September 13.

The Arctic Winter Games arena floor has been sinking since 2003, resulting in Iqaluit's newest rink being its emptiest. The city needs to spend $329,000 in order to make the rink playable for this season.

Part of the cash has been located: the department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth kicked in $65,000.

Now, each department of the city has been asked by council to wrack their brains, to locate additional funding, including economic development, recreation and other government funding.

Buyer interested in IODE hall

The city may have found a buyer for the former IODE Hall.

The property has been put up on the block twice before, with no takers. This time, the city believes a law firm interested in the building will purchase it, despite the asbestos that wraps the pipes in the boarded up building.

Council decided that a law firm could preserve the character of the neighbourhood.

A re-zoning was granted by council last week, changing it to limited commercial from Sijjanga residential.

The hall was nearly destroyed by fire in 1999, and the acting fire chief at the time called it "a fire, safety and health hazard."

Other zoning re-adjustments announced at last week's meeting include two multi-use lots being converted to single family lots and three additional lots being subdivided.