Ice Arena Authority

NORWICH ICE RINK AUTHORITY MINUTES FROM MEETING HELD APRIL 22, 2010 Authority Attendance: Mike Goldblatt, Doug Barlow, Cheryl Ritacco, and Mike Schermerhorn Absent: Mike Wolak Guest: Jim Sanca MINUTES Meeting was called to order by Michael Goldblatt at 6:30 pm, a quorum was present. Minutes from the February meeting were reviewed and unanimously approved. Public Comments There were no public comments Correspondence There was no correspondence Reports Manager Jim Sanca reported on the following: Operations • Skating show “Dorothy’s Journey Through Oz” did well with 500 in attendance the first night and 600 at the second show. Attendance was up for this 2nd annual show • The Rink continues it’s weekend promotion with Norwich residents skating free the first Saturday of the month • Norwich Skating School prepares for Districts and Worlds. Worlds will be held in Marlborough, MA which will make is easier for more local skaters to participate Budget • March numbers are down from same time last year. April, May and June should be more positive with camps, clinics, hockey leagues and possible other events happening during the three months • Public skating numbers were down significantly possibly related to weather • Figure skating also saw a drop, which is impacting the overall bottom line significantly. Numbers are almost reduced by half • Men’s hockey showed sizable increase however youth hockey and high school hockey both down by more than 50% in March compared to February. Drop off is  due to season ending earlier and less teams qualifying for tournaments. This is consistent with prior year • Special events showed an increase • Overall observation is that the biggest underperformer is Figure Skating. The Rink should consider a plan to turn the situation around. Jim suggested increasing stick time, which will not help figure skating but will help with bottom line performance. Approaching the figure skating instructors for ideas was raised. What suggestions do they have to help increase numbers before it comes down to reducing figure skating ice time? The Rink Authority welcomes the coaches to come in to discuss at our next meeting in May. Also recommended was to have someone from figure skating join the Rink Authority. Another suggestion was to administer a Zoomerang survey to the figure skating database as well as one to the coaches to determine wants and needs. Old Business There was no old business New Business There was no new business The meeting was adjourned at 7:25pm. Respectfully submitted, Cheryl Ritacco !