Ice Arena Authority

NORWICH ICE RINK AUTHORITY MINUTES FROM MEETING HELD March 17, 2011 Authority Attendance: Mike Goldblatt, Doug Barlow, Rich Wolak, and Mike Schermerhorn Absent: Cheryl Ritacco Guest: Jim Sanca, Deb Hinchey and Pete Desaulniers MINUTES Meeting was called to order by Michael Goldblatt at 5:59 pm, a quorum was present. Minutes from the January meeting were reviewed. The January minutes were unanimously approved. Public Comments There were no public comments Correspondence There was no correspondence Reports Jim Sanca reported on the following: Jim reminded us that Norwich residents’ days were the 1st Saturday of every month where admission is free to all Norwich residents. The only exception to this are the months of December, January and July. Southeastern Connecticut Youth Hockey hosted CHC Hockey tournaments in February. Tryouts for the league are April 5th to the 11th. There has been talk of moving the tryouts back to the fall because of poor ice sales in the summer. There was a brief discussion of the financial impact SECYH had on the rink. The Norwich Skating School is still scheduled to host the districts from June 23rd to the 26th. Jim anticipates an income of $10,000 for ice rental. The team is also preparing for the Worlds in Minnesota. The Norwich Figure Skating Club will have its next test session on March 24th. The Journey on Ice with the Little Mermaid will be performed on April 1st at 7pm and April 2nd at 6 pm. This event is hosted by the Norwich Skating School. The Men’s league is hosting a tournament on April 29th to May 1st. This is a B level tournament that is run by and outside concern that buys ice from the rink. Thus far there are 8 teams signed up. On March 25th the Rose City Warriors have scheduled their women’s league hockey tournament. The high school hockey season has just finished for both the St. Bernard/NFA/Bacon team and the St. Thomas More team. St.Bernard/NFA/Bacon lost to Staples in the state tournaments quarter finals and St. Thomas more had a very good season, even though they were a start up team. The Aspire program has increased their ice time from 8 to 12 weeks. This program caters to low income, Norwich resident middle school children; offering them activities that otherwise would not be available financially to them. The Special Olympics ended with their regional Invitational. This has been a very successful program over the years and a very nice letter from the program was given to all board members. There were then a couple of questions about the budget concerning figure skating where some history of the program was given and what has been done to rectify the situation. Fawn Walker from Norwich Public Utilities has been in touch with Jim about some kind of funding for a more efficient hot water system at the rink. Jim has been talking to vendors about other energy efficient programs such as soft start motors. There was a productive discussion held with the two City Council members that were present (Hinchey and Desaulniers). The Council members requested documentation from The Rink for Council meeting packets; they also thought that the Rink should do more to publicize the very positive community aspects of the Rink such as the recent District Championship, seasonal figure skating shows, connection with Thames River Academy, etc. The Council members also suggested the Rink request the opportunity to do short presentations at City Council meetings (as Otis Library often does) to publicize events, and highlight actions to cut payroll while maintaining expected revenue streams and optimizing hours of operation. Finally, the Council members expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to actually see some of the events and activities at the Rink, as that first-hand experience makes Rink contributions to the community so much more meaningful than just numbers on a page. The Council members departed at 7:14 PM. On motion by R. Wolak, seconded by M. Schermerhorn, meeting was adjourned at 7:18 PM. Respectfully submitted, Doug Barlow and Rich Wolak