A special council meeting was called last night for Elliot Lake council to act on a report from Acting Public Works Director Bill Goulding that repairs to the Centennial Arena be carried out as quickly as possible.
Council, wanting to prevent a possible collapse of the Centennial Arena, voted in favour of investing over $300,000 in repairs to Wood Research and Development Canada, the company that completed the inspection of the facility.
Goulding told the council the report details several areas in need of substantial repairs, with immediate work needing to be done to stabilize the building, which has severe roof problems due to the wooden trusses.
He added all indications at this time are that this is a restorable facility and the cost to do that is substantially less than replacement.
However, the council agreed this is a first step to see if the building can be saved but is leaving the door open for discussions on building a new structure at an estimated cost of $20 million.
Wood Research and Development Canada is to begin the first phase of remediation work within the next three weeks.
