NORTH BATTLEFORD ‑ The city of North Battleford is looking at major repairs to the air conditioning unit at Access Communication Centre.
At council Monday, Fleet and Maintenance Manager Seton Winterholt explained that city building maintenance crews had discovered the air conditioning unit that serviced the upper auditorium had been dislodged from its mount.
The issue was found during a regular inspection March 25, where crews discovered that a snow guard on one of the lower roofs of Access Communications Centre had detached.
The belief is that heavy wet snow slid off the main roof of the arena to cause the damage, and had also pushed the air conditioning unit off its mount. According to Winterholt the air conditioning unit is beyond repair ‑ it is an older R22 unit whose refrigerant is no longer available. An insurance claim has been started.
The cost of replacement is estimated over $50,000, but replacement is not expected until 46 to 52 weeks away.
The result is air conditioning available in the upper auditorium this summer will be impacted. However, the indication from Winterholt is there will be a little to no user impact with no major events slated for 2022 during the summer at the venue.
The intention is to review the need to replace the air conditioning unit and for costs to be planned for the 2023 budget. Should they decide to replace the unit, that work would happen in 2023, but it is still to be determined whether that will proceed.
Director of Parks and Recreation Cheryl DeNeire told council the city will check into whether they need to replace the unit, as during the summer months the upper auditorium is not used to any great extent. Also, many events that used the auditorium have moved to other venues such as the Dekker Centre or the Field House.
They plan to look at "the need" versus "the cost," said DeNeire, and once that it is reviewed it will be brought back to council.
