The Wesley Bishop Hockey Rink is still missing elements intended in the design, and additional funds are needed.
At the Moorestown Town Council meeting on Monday, Dec. 12, a public hearing was held to discuss improvements needed to be made to the Wesley Bishop Hockey Rink №1. To complete these improvements, council would need to authorize funding in the amount of $125,000 to be borrowed from the Moorestown Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund.
Township Manager Scott Carew said he had previously informed members of council that a change order regarding Wesley Bishop Hockey Rink project was likely. He explained certain elements of the project that were supposed to be included in the design that went out to bid, such as a shelter over the benches, were not included and have not been appropriately budgeted for.
“Moorestown Youth Street Hockey Association, the hockey group that is paying for some of the improvements, was told that [the missing elements] would be put in, and so [the township is] working with staff professionals to get this moving forward,” Carew said.
He additionally noted the hockey season has already begun and that, although none of these missing features are vital to games taking place, they are all still very important to the completion of the rink. Therefore, the project’s engineer provided council with a change order enabling the project’s remainder to be adequately funded.
“There are some monies that [Chief Financial Officer Tom Merchel] has left over from the money the township originally budgeted and raised for the project that we can utilize for some of this, but the balance is more than we have available,” Carew added.
Seeing as it was the last council meeting of the year, Carew explained there wasn’t enough time to introduce a bond ordinance. Therefore, he said an ideal solution would be to have the project’s contractor complete the remaining improvements given a change order.
“The idea behind this resolution was to essentially borrow the money from the Open Space Fund, and then in the beginning of 2017, introduce and pass a bond ordinance to raise the funds to replace any and all funds taken out of the Open Space Fund for this particular use,” Carew said.
One resident, Edwin Begg, asked why council was being asked to take such a circuitous route to obtaining these funds. In response, Carew explained the project should be completed as quickly as possible to benefit the hockey group that uses the facility. Additionally, he noted If council were not to approve this resolution, any changes to the project or its funding would not be available until February when the hockey season is halfway over.
Councilwoman Stacey Jordan said while she was not necessarily concerned about borrowing money from the Open Space Fund, she was concerned about the price the project was expected to cost. Furthermore, Councilwoman Lisa Petriello suggested a timeframe be established to put the funds back in the Open Space Fund during 2017.
Ultimately, council unanimously authorized utilizing the Open Space Fund, with the knowledge that any monies used from the fund will be reimbursed in total in 2017. The change order itself was not passed, for council wished to see if it could obtain better pricing. Council requested an updated change order from the project engineer to present at its special meeting scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 22 at 8:30 a.m. at Town Hall, located at 111 W 2nd St.
Going forward, Councilman Manny Delgado suggested council work to improve its communication with end user partners to ensure all necessary pieces are included in the designs that go out to bid to avoid unnecessary costs.
