Residents who take early morning walks at Yara Centre will have to continue bundling up when using the track because the venue usually keeps the heat low to save money.
Coun. Doug Blanc raised the issue of cold mornings at the recreation venue during the Jan. 10 regular council meeting. Several residents who walk the track at 7 a.m. had contacted him recently about how “extremely cold” the building was in the mornings since the heat is turned down at night.
“We’ve had some terrible conditions out there, but even prior to that, they were walking with parkas on and not enjoying it, so they’re not going. I understand that when it’s 40 (degrees Celsius) below, it might be really hard,” said Blanc.
The councillor wondered if the city turned down the heat at night. He pointed out that Yara Centre is a big building and takes time to recover the heat. He thought the heat should be left on continually, especially since customers were refusing to use the building.
City manager Jim Puffalt said he would speak with the parks and recreation department about this situation. However, he pointed out that the city takes every advantage to reduce the heat to save money. He joked that it also becomes chilly working at city hall late at night.
During a post-meeting media scrum, Puffalt said there were cost-savings to reducing the heat each evening at Yara Centre, although he didn’t have exact savings numbers on hand. He noted that energy conservation strategies suggest turning down the heat and lights when not using a room or building.
“I’m just speculating, but it may have been with minus 30 (-degree Celsius temperatures) and minus 50 (Celsius) windchills, that the temperature that works normally at minus 20 (Celsius) wasn’t enough to handle that in the morning,” he said. “I suspect that might have been part of the issue … .”
Yara Centre’s heat is governed by automatic systems that are preprogrammed, so if the heat needs to increase by 4 a.m., then building staff can set the thermostat ahead of time, Puffalt added. However, he reiterated that the severe cold during the past few weeks likely affected the inside temperature more than usual.
In an email to MooseJawToday.com, city hall explained that the air handling units (AHUs) froze up during the Jan. 7 to 9 weekend, which resulted in colder temps in the field/track area. That issue has been resolved and temperatures are back to normal.
"This is a pretty common occurrence when there are high wind chills, as the AHUs are in an open area on the ground," city hall added. "Normally the temperature for the turf/track areas are kept in the 17-19 degree (Celcius) range."
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Jan. 24.
