Apr 2010

Amidst dueling documents and recoiling reports, city officials agreed to work with user groups of the Portage Centennial Arena to keep an ice sheet open at the aging facility.

City of Portage la Prairie council announced the decision at its regular meeting Monday.

“We will defer our decision about Centennial Arena for four weeks,” Mayor Ken Brennan said.

Previously, city council had decided to decommission the arena in late spring this year and take out the ice plant that serves both its ice sheets, but those plans are now on hold.

Brennan also said council would open a dialogue with a handful of representatives from groups that use the arena, such as the Portage Minor Hockey Association (PMHA), on running one of the ice sheets at Centennial for no cost to the public.

The group would include representatives from the city and about four or five from the ice user groups.

The Portage Regional Recreation Authority (PRRA) will not be involved in the process, as this would be a city-led initiative.

Roughly 150 people, including children enrolled in ice sports, crowded into council’s chamber, surrounding the elected officials and spilling out into the hallway. They all applauded council’s announcement.

The announcement came about an hour into the meeting, after much verbal jousting and the handing out of reports and counter reports from Shane Moffatt, representing the ice user groups, and city council.

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