Whenever citizens meet for coffee or a brief news exchange, political promises and politicians quite often become the focus of conversation.
Seldom does the conversation take a positive turn, with congratulatory comments coming forth for acts and deeds by elected officials.
That could be changing here in Moose Jaw as we hear Mayor Clive Tolley speak about topics of interest to citizens and in doing so, reminding voters of the planks in his election campaign of just over five months ago.
One of those commitments was to pursue the idea of maintaining summer ice in one of the city’s arenas. Like the sportsman he is, Tolley decided there would be traction in discussing summer ice on a broader level, from his position as mayor and with his ear closely attuned to the opinions of ice users.
Just recently he reiterated his belief that a city the size of Moose Jaw would be better served if summer ice could be made available. He was politically wise in in his comment that provision of summer ice would be based on a demonstrated demand.
To balance his support for the proposal, he said several factors would have to be considered. The cost of course would be a factor, as would the capability of the infrastructure to operate year-round. Then there’s the matter of city staff. With winter staff being moved to outdoor summer tasks, more employees would be required to operate and manage the summer ice programs.
The mayor is basically telling hockey and skating groups to get their plans in place and have facts and figures on hand with which to support requests for summer ice. One of those considerations would be the user-pay concept, meaning all costs associated with summer ice would/should be carried by the users and not the general tax account.
No doubt Mayor Tolley has already asked city administration to do some behind-the-scenes work to figure out how summer ice would impact the financial and physical well-being of the city. And would ice in Moose Jaw be detrimental to near-by communities that already provide that service? There is much to consider.
Meanwhile Tolley earns a positive check mark for remembering some of his campaign musings.
Joyce Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
