By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
Los Alamos County Council voted unanimously to proceed with a temporary fix for the County ice rink’s chiller system during its regular meeting Tuesday night.
The motion that was passed agreed to contract American Arena for $450,000 to install the temporary chiller system.
A temporary fix was pushed to ensure a reliable chiller system in time for the 2023-2024 season. According to the staff report, the current system, which is more than 20 years old, is no longer reliable and makes it difficult to maintain ice. It has caused problems for the last two seasons.
Project Manager Sara Rhoton said a long-term solution is being developed. She noted during the staff presentation that council was presented budget approvals for its consideration, one is part of the major facilities maintenance fund, which is identified to pay for the temporary and long-term chiller replacement, and capital improvement funds that are identified for the ice rink floor and shade structure. She added Public Works continues to develop a long-term permanent solution for the chiller system.
The approval received a lot of support from the users of the Los Alamos County Ice Rink.
Los Alamos Hockey Association President Kevin Brake encouraged the council to approve the temporary fix so that the upcoming hockey season could happen.
“I want to strongly urge the council to approve the temporary chiller and I think we want to recognize the consequences of deciding not to do that,” he said; adding, “effectively we would have nearly no season at all … we have had issues in past years with the chiller as is and with that problem, the ice honestly becomes nearly unsafe to play hockey on.”
In an unrelated matter, council voted 6-1 with Councilor Theresa Cull opposed, to approve a land conveyance and development agreement with Los Alamos Medical Center (LAMC) to construct an extension to Finch Street.
According to the staff report the land conveyance is the result of discussions between the County and the hospital to improve safety along Trinity Drive and access to LAMC driveway. With the conveyance, the driveway would be moved further east on Trinity Drive, thereby extending the merge lane from Diamond Drive, and would be consolidated with Finch Street. Furthermore, there will be a connection with the Finch Street western extension to Trinity Drive near 35th Street.
As for the budget for this project, the adopted FY2022 budget identified $1.5 million for the Finch Street extension through the Capital Improvement Program (CIP). An additional $264,450 is required for the County to improve the LAMC parking lot, in lieu of cash for the land conveyance. Also, $23,900 will be provided to LAMC for obtaining and installing a new sign.
Cull voiced concerns about this.
“I am a little torn on this,” she said. “I appreciate that the County has worked with the medical center to try to come up with a solution on this entrance (but) it concerns me that the County is footing the entire bill for this improvement when the medical center has said that their staff has been concerned about the current entrance.”
“I don’t necessarily agree with this solution being to just move the entrance further down unless we move it all the way down to 35th Street,” Cull added. “That to me makes the most sense. I don’t think it would take any more time for an emergency vehicle to enter that way. I think just looking at this a little more holistically would be a little bit better…”
In other business, the council:
- Unanimously approved two resolutions to apply for New Mexico Department of Transportation funds that would go towards Atomic City Transit; this would include replacing a transit vehicle and administrative, operational and capital needs in transit.
- Unanimously approved the ranking of infrastructure capital improvement projects (ICIP) that will be submitted to the state for funding consideration. These ICIPs, in ranking order, are: the Jemez Mountain Fire Protection new water tank and underground electric, Los Alamos Fire Station 4, DP Road Commercial Development infrastructure, North Mesa low income housing infrastructure and regional transit center.
