The Town of Bashaw council decided volunteers who offered to help repair the local arena will get partial payment for their time on that project. The lengthy debate and decision were held at the Jan. 14 regular meeting of council.

Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Theresa Fuller presented councillors with an update on volunteers Chad Hildebrandt and Dallas Bergstrom’s previous presentation to council regarding reimbursement for material and labour costs related to recent work at the Bashaw Arena.

Last fall soft ice at the arena suggested a problem with the ice-making plant. There was concern voiced at the time the plant may have failed with replacement required, possibly losing the entire arena season. Readers should be aware ice time at most arenas is in demand and if it turned out the Bashaw Arena was unusable for months that community’s user groups, including minor hockey and the skating club, may have had their seasons thrown into chaos.

It was with this background Hildebrandt, Bergstrom and other volunteers offered to examine and repair the area themselves at little or no cost to the town with the intent the 2025-26 season could be saved. However, as revealed at the previous council meeting the ice-making plant hadn’t failed but instead appeared to be operated at 15 psi rather than the required 30 psi for many months.

As the trouble seems to have been linked to improper maintenance rather than equipment failure, the volunteers in question presented the town with an invoice for material and labour costs. Councillors previously approved paying for material costs but wanted more information about paying the almost $20,000 labour invoice; it was noted several times at the meeting volunteers spent 300 hours repairing the arena. Councillors stated several times during the debate they were concerned about paying for volunteer work.

The CAO noted she advised volunteers to submit an invoice. “It was administration’s recommendation that they track the costs of the repairs to bring back to council for a discussion,’ stated the CAO’s report to council. Fuller also stated she kept in touch regularly with the volunteers and visited the arena in person while they were working.

It was also noted at the meeting the arena problem coincided with the 2025 municipal election and required decisions during the transition from previous to newly-elected council; subsequently some decisions were left in the CAO’s hands.

Fuller reported on an idea that was previously mentioned: that the labour costs be considered an “in kind” donation of sorts and that the town pay this invoice and then receive a tax deductible receipt in return. Fuller noted such a solution was considered “cumbersome.”

Mayor Cindy Orom observed that volunteers entered the project assuming they knew what the problem was, but the issue turned out to be something different and because of that she saw some merit in the idea of reimbursing for their time.

It was noted at the meeting several times that volunteers discovered the actual problem at the arena relatively soon after beginning their work.

It was also stated at the meeting councillors were involved in the arena decisions because those repairs weren’t budgeted. It was also stated that if the entire project had been tendered, it may have come back at the same or higher price and likely would have taken much longer.

Each councillor gave their opinion on the conundrum. Coun. Kyle McIntosh stated council was told this wouldn’t hit the tender-mandatory dollar figure of $75,000; as well, the town had an agreement with volunteers that this project wouldn’t costs taxpayers anything.

Coun. Reina Masyk agreed with much of what McIntosh said and added that perhaps some legal advice should be obtained on how this project should be viewed.

Coun. Ambyr Kohlman also agreed with some of McIntosh’s assessment and observed that if you pay a volunteer they’re not really a volunteer anymore.

Coun. Carman Meger responded that no one really knew what the exact arena problem was and that 300 hours is a lot of time to volunteer; Meger stated he felt the volunteers deserved reimbursement and refusing may discourage volunteers from helping the town.

Mayor Orom noted that she was impressed with the way volunteers stepped up to help save the arena season but at the same time councillors passed a resolution to accept the volunteers offer of free labour and materials. Orom observed that the town needs to learn from this situation in case something similar ever happens again. She added that since the scope of the project changed she felt some form of compensation should be paid to volunteers.

A motion to pay the full $19,240 labour invoice was defeated by a 1 to 4 vote; a motion to pay half the invoice, $9,620, was passed by a 3 to 2 vote.