Wawa Municipal Council's approved some important changes to policies on ice availability and increased ice user fees - though not until next ice season.
In their regular meeting last night, Council agreed to increase ice rental rates to $65 an hour for youth - or $55 an hour for a youth tournament - with youth passes for pickup hockey available for $5.75, while adults would pay $120 an hour for ice, $82.50 an hour for tournament ice, and $8.85 for a pickup pass.
Those rates won't apply until May 1st, 2020, which is after the current ice season, but far ahead of next season.
Council also approved a recommended change to the ice season - though it might not seem too different for users.
While initial proposals would have had the season start around Thanksgiving, that was revised last month - following response from user groups - and CAO/Treasurer Maury O'Neill says the municipality decided on an earlier start date.
The revised recommendation from staff had set the end of the season as the third Sunday of March, but Council ended up approving an amendment tabled by Councillor Pat Tait during last night's meeting, which directs staff to remove the arena ice on the Monday following the combined Adult Hockey Tournament - the Old Timers Hockey Tournament - and Adult Curling Bonspiel - the Ladies' Curling Bonspiel.
While the combined tournaments are usually held the last weekend of March, the new policy does direct staff to wait until the first Monday after the tournament even if the weekend extends into April, or if the tournament's delayed to the first weekend of April due to the Easter Holiday.
If no tournament's scheduled, then the ice will be removed the Monday after the March Break.