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INFORMATION #1 11-20-2000 . ELK RIVER ARENA 1000 SCHOOL STREET P.O. BOX 720 ELK RIVER, MN 55330 (612) 441 - 2956 FAX * (612) 241 - 9432 To: Arena Commission Members From: Rich Czech, Arena Manager Date: October 31,2000 Subject: Arena Update ;, _ '..' -. ,<"'"".~ -~~' 7'. N r\ :t'~~*~ ('("!>~, .~"\i .~"''" Vltl~ilQ~. su.'" With the regular season on its way it is time for an update on the operations of the Arena. The skating season is in full swing and ice rentals are about what they were last season. Last season (1999 - 2000) we rented about 2,410 hours of ice from September through March. This season (2000 - 2001) we are at 2,580 hours of ice rented with a few more hours available. . At the last commission meeting in August I was asked to figure the operating costs of keeping ice in during the Summer months. In calculating these figures there are three main expenses that would increase during the Smnmer months: Electricity, Natural gas, and part time staff. Without hiring a professional firm to analyze all expects of the Arena, the [mal numbers will be an estimate and not exact costs. Expenses such as full time staff, phone service, and other expenses which the Arena accrues whether the Arena is open or not were not included. . . When figuring out the costs of utilities I took the two months from the last four years when the Arena did not have ice, June 1997 and Jlme 1999 and averaged their expenses. Even with not having ice in June 1997 and Jlme 1999 the average electricity and natural gas bill combined was $4,736.00. The month of June 2000 the ice was left in, it ended up being our busiest Jlme. The Combined electricity and Natural gas bill for Jlme 2000 was $6,180.00. The cost difference between having ice and not having ice was $1,444.00. I did not factor in Jlme of 1998 because the ice was left in but was hardly used for a two week period, thus the utility costs were down. Due to demand charges and fixed costs to install the ice it would have cost more money to take the ice out and reinstall the ice two weeks later. . Part time workers hourly pay is between $8.00 - $10.00. The Smnmer ice rental rate last season was $110.00 an hour. Taking the part time pay into account this roughly leaves $100.00 an hour for other expenses. At a $100.00 an hour this calculates to about 14.45 hours of ice that needs to be sold a month to cover the extra utility costs. This is not to say that we would keep ice in if we could sell 15 hours of ice during a month, however it does give us an of idea the extra expenses the Arena accnles when having ice in during the Smnmer months. Other items to take into accOlmt are the wear andtear on equipment, the cost of putting ice back in, revenue from vending machines, skate sharpening, and other merchandise sales. This Summer the Arena has gone through a lot of changes. The City Council approved rubber matting for the Olympic rink. We were able to purchase some seconds ofTuflex rubber matting for a great price. This enabled us to purchase and install more matting than what we intended. There is even enough left to hopefully mat in the bathrooms next Summer. Attached for your review are the capital improvements that the city has made since 1997. As you will see the Arena has been the beneficiary to quite a few items over the last four years. . Youth Hockey has contracted a company to complete the painting in the Olympic rink. Both the bottom and top of the Arena are completed. As you will notice, the color scheme is the same as the lobby, red on the bottom, white on the top and a black line in between the red and white. . My staff and I have heard a lot of positive comments regarding both the painting and the new matting. Both the painting and the matting give the Arena the finished looked that it needed. On a less noticeable but much needed note, the snow melt pit has been revamped so that the snow can enter the pit without moving grates. Moving the grates were not only labor intense, but created an unsafe condition. Now the Zamboni can pull up to this area and dump the snow without having to move any grates. It will need to be determined whether this is a permanent solution or if an alternative will be needed in the fuhlre. Elk River Youth Hockey has approved the completion of the locker room bathrooms. With a little luck they should be completed before the first boys high school game. Arena Advertising has gone fairly well, so far we have added Cost Cutters, Cub Foods, Orthopedic Surgeons, and North Memorial. There are a few . businesses that are exploring their options. There are still concerns with crowds during High School Boys Hockey games. We have added plexie glass from last season to extend across the entire north end of the Olympic rink-walking track. This will continue to help in tIns area however I believe the solution will be to install bleachers on the eastside of the Arena. If even half of them could be installed it would create 200 seats, eliminating the home student section being right next to the visitors section. The cost of half of the bleachers would be close to $30,000 and would take until the end of the season to be installed. Until then a cooperate effort between School officials, Elk River Police, and the Elk River Arena will be needed to minimize unruly behavior. . . . . Arena Capital improvements 1997 - 2000 1997 1998 1999 2000 Heaters $ 10,847 Dehumidification $ 120,447 Bleachers $ 34,305 New furnace for P.A. System $ 14,485 Security System $ 2,420 Higher Plexie Barn Locker rooms $ 2,075 Scoreboard $ 6,540 Centergroove glass in Barn $ 3,820 New Rink light Trash receptacles $ 997 in Barn $ 1,442 Water treatment fixtures I Barn $ 2,332 Computer $ 2,995 Pressure washer $ 1,276 equipment $ 1,684 Centergroove Water treatment $ 1,394 Zamboni $ 82,660 in Barn $ 1,223 Heater Units Moved Elec.Service Personal lift $ 5,700 Zam I Compressor $ 4,500 panel in Barn $ 4,660 Rubber Matting $ 14,299 Muzak (Barn) $ 552 Players Gate Barn $ 1,610 Black Top Diaper Changers $ 554 Employees Parking $ 765 Landscaping Not Complete $ 2,654 Total $ 35,864 Total $ 132,030 Total $ 129,293 Total $ 29,048 1997 $ 35,864 1998 $ 132,030 1999 $ 129,293 2000 $ 29,048 Total: $ 326,236 . . . MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor & City Council Pat Klaers, City A~ r ~ November 6, 2000 FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: Ice Arena Update In addition to the information from Ice Arena Manager Rich Czech, one item to note is that landscaping work has been accomplished this summer by the street/park department. In this regard we had some trees from the Wal-Mart commercial site transplanted to the area, purchased and planted some new trees, and the crew installed the irrigation system. Additionally, some minor concrete and blacktop work was also done to clean up the area and make maintenance around the arena easier. Regarding the analysis in the memo about whether or not to have ice in the arena during the summer, it should be noted that the figures are very general. Nonetheless, I think it is safe to say that if we rent about 20 hours of ice time in the summer months we are hitting a "break even" point. Regarding high school hockey games and security, I think that everyone agrees bleachers would be nice, but we would have to sell a lot of tickets in order to recapture a $30,000 investment. There are a number of rinks in the conference that have bleachers only on one side, so the Elk River rink is not totally unique. What has been unique in Elk River is the mixing of visitor and home students in the same section(s). Following a meeting between the arena and city hall staff, police department, and school administrators, it has been unanimously decided that it is best to more clearly separate the home and visitor sections in order to create a safer environment and to limit the behavior problems we have experienced the past few years. In this regard, the northern seating sections (about 180 seats) will be labeled as "visitors" and the southern seating sections (about 300 seats) will be labeled as "home." School administrators and police security will enforce this seating arrangement. What this will do is move the Elk River students down toward the Elk River home net and away from the visitors net and where the visitors are seated. This change may upset some of the Elk River spectators, but it is . our responsibility to create and maintain a safe environment and, short of additional bleachers, this is the best solution. Change is not always easy, but in the big picture this is a relatively minor change and one that is being embraced as a reasonable proactive solution. The other change for this season, and one that the school administrators strongly recommended, is to limit the crowd capacity at the games. This is seen as a key issue in controlling crowd behavior at the games and in this regard we have agreed to a 900 per game capacity. This will require some games to have advance sales. Four games last year had between 904 and 1,000 attendees, two games had over 1,000, and five games were below 904. Seating capacity is about 480. We will be increasing our per game fee to offset some of this lost gate revenue. . .