Mayor says ‘no more twists and turns’ in Elliot Lake arena saga

Playing null of undefined

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Andrew Wannan in the Mayor's Chair

There’s frustration in Elliot Lake over the length of time it’s taking to get the arena repairs and upgrades completed.

But the mayor says the community is “over the hump.”

“The rest of the project just needs to be executed and that’s the best news out of this,” said mayor Andrew Wannan.

Challenges and delays

There are foundation challenges and that work will now run into October. It means the hockey and skating season will be impacted.

City staff provided an update to city council Monday night, explaining that the delay is connected to supply chain issues, logistics and the rebar design of the foundation by contractor TRS or Timber Restoration Services.

The city’s special projects manager, Bill Goulding brought council up to speed on the work and what’s holding things up. He said the soil inside the arena is sandy and as workers dig it undermines the floor support. Corrugated aluminum is being used to hold back the soil to stabilize the sand.

Goulding said crews then pour what he called ‘weak concrete’ to replace the sand that’s fallen away.

“All of the reinforcement bar gets put in place as per the design specifications and then the formal work goes up around it,” special projects manager Bill Goulding told council.

“Then you can pour concrete. There are important steps in between where our building officials go and make sure that everything is installed as it’s meant to be.”

Goulding also said part of the delay is due to supply chain issues with the delivery of the reinforcement bar required to go inside pile caps, thick concrete slabs.

Frustration growing in the community

Councillor Charles Flintoff said he’s frustrated with the contractors saying one thing and then when the timeline changes it’s the city that has to explain to the public why the project is delayed.

“We’ve given them millions and millions of dollars and they’re supposed to be the best. We were told they were the best in the country. Maybe they are, but it’s just very frustrating,” Flintoff said.

Goulding explained that the city did change the design and materials, but then discovered those couldn’t be used.

“That was unexpected, not just for us, not just for our contractor, not for their sub-vendors, but for their sub vendors,” he said.

‘You can’t will things to happen’

“You can’t will things to happen. They have to be done properly,” Wannan told CTV News in an interview.

“We all want it done. We all want to be in there skating. You can’t control everything, and you have to be patient,” he added.

When asked about potential added costs, city staff told council the delays with the arena work are not expected to cost more for the city or taxpayers.

Wannan says its unfortunate user groups are faced with delays to their skating and hockey season because the facility won’t be ready for the start of the upcoming season.

Impact to the hockey community

Elliot Lake’s Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL) team had to take a Leave of Absence (LOA) because they had no place to play, costing the Vikings their roster and thousands of dollars.

That leave of absence was extended through the 2025-26 season.

In an email to CTV News, Vikings President Jef Jarmovitch said he’s frustrated and disappointed with the ongoing delays.

He explained that once the team took the LOA all the players became free agents. The team had invested in some of these players and then other teams ‘picked them up for free’. The team also had to refund thousands of dollars to players, ‘with no revenue coming in to offset these payments.’

Jarmovitch said the future of the team in Elliot Lake is unclear, and while he’d love to keep the franchise in the city, “there is the option to sell and relocate the team to another community. Everything depends on the upcoming months progress with the Rogers Arena and how important the City of Elliot Lake feels having a Junior A Franchise is,” his email said.

In a statement to CTV News, the Elliot Lake Minor Hockey Association said:

Neither Elliot Lake city staff nor Mayor Wannan wanted to provide an official opening date or timeline.

“You have to allow some leeway for setbacks,” Wannan said.

“But the general feeling from the contractor, the vendors is that we’re finally on a straight path — no more up and downs hopefully, no more twists and turns.”