Outdoor Ice Oval Society of Prince George

Outdoor Ice Oval Society of Prince George Annual General Meeting Wednesday, October 22, 2014, at 7:00 pm Kin Centre Room #2 2187 Ospika Blvd. S Prince George, British Columbia

1. Welcome The meeting was called to order at 7:07 pm in the Canfor Room at CN Centre in Prince George. There were seven members present.

2. Adoption of agenda. Add item 8(e) City of Prince George Community Recreation Services Plan That the agenda be approved as amended. CARRIED

3. Approval of Minutes of 2013 Annual General Meeting MOVED by Lyle Dickieson, Shelley Rennick That the minutes of the Annual General Meeting of October 23, 2013, be approved. DRAFTCARRIED 4. Reports President’s Report President Kathy Lewis provided a written report, which is attached to these minutes. Treasurer’s Report Treasurer Chris Peppler provided a written report, which is attached to these minutes.

5. Nominations and Election of Directors President – Kathy Lewis (acclaimed) Vice President – Angus McDonald (acclaimed) Secretary – David Connell (acclaimed) Treasurer – Chris Peppler (acclaimed) Director at Large – Shelley Rennick (acclaimed) Director at Large – Melissa Wolford (acclaimed)

6. Signing officers MOVED Shelley Rennick, Lyle Dickieson That any two of Kathy Lewis, Chris Peppler, and David Connell be the signing officers. CARRIED

7. Discuss need for auditor or agree to waive need for an auditor MOVED Lyle Dickieson, Shelley Rennick That the Society waives the need for an auditor for the current year. CARRIED

8. Planning for coming season a) Canada 2015 Winter Games Progress, although slow, is being made at the oval site for the new building. We still expect the storage building to be in place for this season. We still have to sign a Venue Use Agreement with Canada Winter Games Society, which will include a clear statement about who makes decisions about ice maintenance. The oval will the site of the BC Long-track Championships on January 17-18, 2015, which is a test event for the Winter Games. b) Prince George Blizzard Speed Skating Club: ice time request The Blizzard will have exclusive use of the oval on Wednesday evenings from 7:00-8:30 pm, as they have the past two years. c) 2013-14 user fees o The user fees will remain $2/person or $5/family o Season pass for individual users ($25) and family ($60); season passes will include annual OIOS memberships o Annual OIOS membership will be $5 d) 2013-14 Schedule o All agreed that the current schedule works well. One change was made. The Saturday morning time slot (about 10 am-12 noon) will be restricted to long-blade skating. The Blizzard will also use this Saturday morning time slot. e) City of Prince George Community Recreation Services Plan o The oval was included as part of the City’s review of its recreational services. According to the summary chart of the City’s final report (page 126), the oval does not have significant issues, is relatively well-used, and is expected to continue to be operated and maintained DRAFTmore or less status quo. These are the standard criteria used to assess all facilities. Meeting adjourned at 8:00 pm

David Connell, Secretary Outdoor Ice Oval Society of Prince George President’s Report - AGM 2013/2014 Operating Season

The oval officially opened for the 2013/2014 season on Dec 18th, 2013 with ice-making starting on Dec. 2, 2013. The oval closed on March 9, 2014. Both the start and end dates were determined by weather. There were 16 days when warm temperatures resulted in closure. Overall, the outdoor ice oval was open for an 11.5 week period (66 days open, closed for 16). During the period that the oval was open, we also experienced very cold (below -20 as a daytime high) temperatures for 16 of those days, which significantly reduced the number of skaters. Despite the weather challenges, we had a very successful season as measured by the efficiency of our operations, phenomenal skater numbers on weekend days when the weather was suitable, increasing demand from school groups to use the oval, and the activity on our website and facebook pages.

Operation The operation of the oval was based on the same model as previous years, and was entirely volunteer- driven, with an honour-based payment system. A conservative estimate of volunteer hours last year, was 707 person-hours, and this year we used at least 767 hours of volunteer time. We had a total of 10 volunteer ice-makers, 3 equipment maintainers, and 4 people looking after administration and logistics. Table 1 showsDRAFT the number of volunteer hours by activity. Equipment maintenance includes moving equipment, regular maintenance, putting equipment away for the season. Ice making involves the initial flooding and some conditioning to get the ice to a skating condition. Ice maintenance includes snow removal, in-season flooding, and conditioning. Administration includes preparation of agreements with the City, collection of fees, banking and book-keeping, website updates, responding to emails and requests by user groups, special events. Other activities include picking up garbage, shoveling stairs. Numbers in the table are conservative as not all hours were recorded by the volunteers.

Table 1. Volunteer hours 2013/2014 season Equipment Making ice Maintaining ice Administration Other maintenance 86 157.5 381.5 140 2

Once again we received tremendous support from City of Prince George staff. An operating plan was jointly developed and agreed upon by the OIO Society and the City. The oval was open from 9am to 8:30pm, 7 days a week and was unmonitored. User fees were $2.00 per person or $5.00 per family and collection of the fee was on the honour system that utilized the on-site, secure, drop-box. This year we also sold season passes and approximately 30 individuals or families bought passes priced at $25 per person or $60 per family. We paid Regional Security to open the gates each morning, and close them again at night.

Attendance The on-site counter registered 5688 visitors to the oval during the season. Attendance was down this year due to a shorter number of days open than in past years, and very cold temperatures during a substantial amount of time that the oval was open. In addition, the Prince George Iceman was scheduled during the main cold period, but was cancelled due to cold temperatures. This also affected our participation rate as few people were coming out to train in the 2 weeks leading up to the Iceman.

Table 2 shows the attendance for the 2013/2014 season compared to past years.

Table 2. Attendance numbers by year Year Number of skate visitors Days open 2009-2010 6300 70 2010-2011 7471 97 2011-2012 8290 74 2012-2013 8320 66 2013-2014 5688 66 (16 days below – 20 C)

The Prince George Blizzards Speedskating Club had one night per week restricted access for speedskating practice. Attendance at these sessions was up to 25 people per session.

Several special events were held at the oval, including PG Skates - a City-sponsored community skating event, an official opening celebration, and several school group functions. ImprovementsDRAFT Several improvements were made to the facility. We received a grant from Enhance PG, of $800, which we used towards the purchase of a 10 x 20 foot tent, which we used for special events. A new subsurface material was laid down over the track surface, which consisted of a fine-textured loam. This was added to enhance the retention of water during warm periods when the ice thaws, which reduces the development of air pockets and makes it easier to re-establish the ice surface once cold temperatures return. This resurfacing was done by the City and Canada Winter Games. In addition, 4 stand-pipes were added to the interior of the oval, which we used for initial flooding as we built the ice, and to repair sections following thaws.

Recently we established 8 survey markers, 2 each at the start of the curves. These are necessary for marking lanes and lines for the BC Long Track Championship and the Canada Winter Games, which we are hosting Jan. 17/18, and Feb. 13-19 respectively. We thank Trevor Key, the surveyor, and his colleague for assisting with this.

Finally, due to the plans for an equipment building on the west side of the oval (construction has just started), we were asked by the City to enter into a “License to Occupy”. This became a License to Occupy for the track and surrounding grounds, as well as the new building. It took some time to work out the agreement, but it has now been signed and is in place for 25 years.

Plans for next season

A. Infrastructure:

Parking lot – the parking area for the OIO is being moved to the west side of the oval. There will be a 20-car parking lot, with a stairway access to the oval.

Zamboni garage – our existing Zamboni garage will be relocated to ice level, adjacent to the new building. After the CWG, this building will become a warming hut that will be available for public use when the oval is open for skating. This will greatly add to the ability of skaters to have a more enjoyable, and longer skate because of the opportunity to warm up and rest.

B. Programs

We have had many expressions of interest from people wanting to learn how to long track speed skate, so this year we are planning several new programs:

Learn to speed skate – Carol Dennison, a Level 2 NCCP coach, and Lyle Dickieson, a champion long track skater and certified coach, will be offering a weekend “Learn to Speed Skate” program for all ages and abilities, hopefully culminating in an opportunity for participants to race in the BC Long Track Championships (see below).

Long-track only membership category – we worked with the BC Speed Skating Association to develop and promote a membership category that will allow skaters who are interested only in long track skating for fun and fitness, to participate in a formal learn to skate program, and participate in one local/regional race per season.

Skate rentals – the oval society has acquired many pairs of long track skates from the Prince George Blizzard SpeedDRAFT Skating Club, which we hope to rent out this coming year (depends on resources available to develop and deliver a rental system). We anticipate that this program will enhance the interest in long track skating.

BC Long Track Championships – The OIO will host the BC Long Track Championships on Jan. 17, 2015. This is an official test event for the CWG. Canada Winter Games – Long track speed skating is scheduled for the first week of the CWG, and plans are well under way for us to showcase the outdoor ice oval and our phenomenal volunteer ice makers.

Future considerations

The OIO and the Prince George Blizzards Speed Skating Club have been developing stronger ties with the goal of increasing participating in competitive and recreational long-track speed skating. We have a shared vision of Prince George becoming an attractive training location for young skaters – both in long track and short track. The move of the Blizzards into the Olympic sized ice at Kin 1 was a great step towards this vision, and the recent and upcoming facility improvements at the outdoor ice oval is another fantastic step forward. We are very interested in developing partnerships with CNC and UNBC to enable young athletes to come and train in Prince George, and attend a post-secondary institution at the same time.

The main limiting factor, for future development of long track programming in Prince George, is the uncertainty with weather. It is difficult for us to host major competitions because we can’t guarantee we will have suitable ice during the competition, and inconsistencies in ice quality due to the weather limit our ability to build a recreational skater base. Historical data trends shown in Figure 1 indicate that mean winter temperatures have been increasing in this area, and climate projections suggest the trend will continue.

To this end, we are starting to explore options for a geothermal-based refridgeration system. This is a long-term project, which will require support from donors and the City. We realize that large capital investments for projects such as this are difficult for the City to support on its own, and at this point we are interested only in having the City engage in discussions and planning. Our goal is to develop a system that can cool the oval surface to slightly extend the historic skating season, and to eliminate the in-season thaw events. At the same time, and certainly during the off-season, the green energy can be used to off-set energy costs for the Kin Centres or Aquatic Centre.

January

-20 T e m

p -25 e r a Mean t u

r -30 Mean maximum e

-35 DRAFT1940 1960 1980 2000 Year

Figure 1. January mean, and mean maximum temperatures in Prince George from 1943 to 2009. Outdoor Ice Oval Society of Prince George Treasurer’s Report - AGM 2013/2014 Operating Season

 Copies of the Financial Statements for the FY ended April 30, 2014 prepared by Andrew Snaden, C.G.A. and based on information provided by the Society are available for distribution at the AGM.  As noted in the Financial Statements, the services provided by Mr. Snaden do not constitute an audit or a review engagement.  There were a few material differences in revenue or expenditure items last FY over the previous FY. The following are noteworthy: membership dues income reflects the first year of season passes, which include membership in the Society; day use fee income reflects the later opening date and subsequent closures due to weather; a development grant was received under the Community Enhancement Grant program from the City of Prince George; and finally, on the expenses side, program expense included the purchase of a 10 foot by 20 foot pop-up tent for use during special events.  At the end of the last FY, on April 30, 2014, there was an excess of revenue over expenses of $2,169 and the Society’s bank account balance at that time was 57,123.43.  The Society’s corporate income tax and GST returns for the FY were prepared by Andrew Snaden and haveDRAFT been accepted as filed by the Canada Revenue Agency.

Respectfully submitted,

Chris Peppler, Treasurer