The Douro Community Centre will see some new upgrades beyond the installation of a new floor.
At the August 4th regular council meeting manager of parks and recreation Mike Mood presented two reports to council looking for improvements to the facility.
The first report was requesting approval for the purchase of a new audio system and the second report was more of an update informing council that the water system in the community centre was to receive upgrades.
Mood told council that the present above ice audio system at the facility is at the end of its life and no longer supplies consistent sound.Mood told council that the request for the new audio system came from Douro Minor Hockey and they suggested that the system could be paid for with the remaining funds from the prize money won by securing second spot in the Kraft Hockeyville competition.
According to Mood this request was also reviewed and supported by the Arena Facilities Future Ad-Hoc Committee.
Mood told council that the $25,000 Hockeyville money has been used for three projects to date which include new hockey nets, new benches in the women’s change room as well as water bottle refill stations.
The company recommended to supply and install the new audio system is TELK Communications who came in with the lowest bid at $9,350 to complete the project.
The remaining funds in the Hockeyville account amount to $7,986.64 which leaves $1,363.36 which would have to be taken from working capital.
The recommended TELK proposal includes a complete arena sound system, Bluetooth functionality, new microphones, installation and boom lift rental. In addition to being the lower-priced proposal, the Octasound centre ice speaker system is specifically engineered for hockey arenas, providing consistent sound coverage over the ice surface while requiring fewer speakers and less ongoing maintenance than a distributed speaker system.
Councillor Ray Johnston asked if it would not be better to purchase a four speaker system rather than a single speaker. He acknowledged that it might cost more, but wondered if the quality might be worth it.
Mood replied that the recommended system is actually an Octasound system and the speaker would project sound in multiple directions.
Mood told council that this particular system was recommended by the Arena Facilities Adhock Committee which represents a number of communities.
Councillor Tom Watt commented that this was a really good project to spend the Hockeyville money on, but asked if there were any plans to protect the new equipment from damage from hockey pucks etc.
Mood replied that they were going to be doing some netting and would look in to options on how to protect the new audio system.
Councillor Shelagh Landsmann asked if the boom trucks needed to install the system would have any negative affects on the newly installed arena floor.
Mood told council that the work would not be done until after the 28 days needed to cure the floor.
Councillor Watt moved that they follow the recommendation to purchase the new system which passed unanimously.
The second report explained the need to upgrade the present water treatment system.
Mood gave background on the issues which included water pressure issues when the facility is at full capacity. The existing water treatment system has reached the end of its useful service life and can no longer reliably meet the current standards for water quality, safety and reliability. A modern unit is expected to operate more efficiently than the existing system and is essential to protect the health and safety of patrons, the public and staff who use the facility. The new system will also address the water flow issues that have been experienced in the facility.
The township received three quotes from the RFP with the highest quote coming from M & J Plumbing at $47,500 and the lowest price from Maloney Mechanical at $38,531.24 The project had been budgeted at $45,000 which puts it under budget by $6,468.76
The tender was awarded to Maloney Mechanical.
