It looks like MacDonald Brothers Construction is getting the green light to renovate the Minden arena.
Yesterday at a special meeting of council, the councillors of Minden Hills voted to go ahead with the proposed $12.5 million renovations and construction to the S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena.
Although the project is going forward, the vote to decide that was a contentious one with councillors Bob Carter, Jennifer Hughey, and Pam Sayne voting no. The other members of the council in Ron Nesbitt, Jean Neville, and Lisa Schell all reportedly voted yes. The deciding vote fell the mayor, Brent Devolin who broke the tie with a yes vote.
Through the validation process, the team or Parkin Architecture and MacDonald Brothers Construction noted the need to renovate the arena was a must referring to issues with the foundation, saying “it’s not an if, it’s a when.” The validation process price tag was a point of contention at the last meeting regarding the arena because the construction team had asked for an increase in the budget allocated for that, which was approved, and they reported a 50 per cent overage beyond that number.
During the election period, candidate John Teljeur raised concerns that the township had decided to go with MBC without looking at other options, a sentiment that was echoed by a Minden tax-payer who told My Haliburton Now.com they felt the council should have held off on going forward until they looked at other options.
The arena’s construction is forecasted to be finished by 2020.