NOTICE OF SPECIAL SHAREHOLDERS MEETING
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 7, 2023
7:00 PM
MEDICINE HAT CURLING "CENTRE"
August 30, 2023 update
This is a follow up to the July 20th update sent out to our
members and residents of Medicine Hat and surrounding area.
Engineers and other representatives from the City of Medicine Hat have made
several visits to the Curling Club to conduct inspections of the integrity and
state of the building. After speaking with city officials, it appears that
there are no major infrastructure issues that could potentially prevent the
sale of the building to the city. In the coming weeks an official report will
be completed, this will lead to the signing of paperwork for the sale of the
building.
During these last few weeks our communication with our contractors,
CIMCO and Dynamic Industrial solutions, has been constant. An in-person meeting
took place on August 21 at the rink to review our upcoming project. Both
parties are optimistic that the construction will be executed as planned,
however until construction commences, we will not have an exact timeline.
A representative from the Government of Alberta has reached out to
discuss our Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) application. In a
timely manner we have sent additional information and clarified any issues. The
Board sees this as a positive sign as it means that our application has been
reviewed in depth by the government. The decision regarding the CFEP grants are
made in late fall, before December.
Our fundraising committee has continued to meet to explore options to
generate funds for the club. Some wonderful ideas have come from these meetings
including new and exciting ways to promote our club, generate interest in the
sport of curling, and ultimately generate additional revenue streams for the
club.
Finally, our most recent board meeting was held on August 29th,
and it was decided that a vote from our shareholders about the sale of the
building was the most appropriate course of action. Our previous shareholder
meeting back in May of this year saw a vote for the board to pursue financial
aid from the City of Medicine Hat. After several council meetings and
discussion between both parties it was agreed that the City would provide
financial support. However, in early July the ability for the club to repay
such a large loan was questioned. Not wanting to struggle financially to repay
our debts or to provide curling to the local community, representatives from
the board went before council to inquire about other alternatives, as outlined
in the July 11th and July 20th updates.
The Board supports the sale of the curling club building, so the Board
subsequently made a motion to call a special shareholder meeting. As we
continue working with the City of Medicine Hat, we feel it is important to make
sure our members and shareholders get a say regarding the actual sale of the
building. On September 7th at 7:00pm at the Medicine Hat Curling
Club, a special shareholders’ meeting will be taking place to allow our members
to have their say in our future. We hope to see as many people there as
possible to garner as much feedback from our members as possible.
I want to thank all our Board members for their continuous support and
efforts towards getting curling back in our community. I would also like to
thank all our shareholders, members and residents in Medicine Hat and the
surrounding area for their patience, support, and dedication to the sport of
curling.
Respectfully submitted,
Bryden Smith
April 20th update:
This is a follow-up to the April 5th update that was sent out to our members, and our April 17th City Council meeting.
I want to start off by saying thank you, from myself and the entire board. There were roughly 100 curlers that came out to support our presentation to City Council and countless others expressing their support online through our various social media platforms. On April 17th Cal Hauserman, co-chair of our Facilities Committee, went before City Council with an ask for aid regarding our club’s current situation. In a short presentation Cal outlined our present situation our club faces and the solution that The Board feels will provide us the most efficient way to continue curling in our current building.
Below are a few highlights from the presentation that was put forth to council on Monday:
• Current needs: Ice Mats (see below), New Ice Plant, additional infrastructure.
• Total Project Budget: $1,542,450.
• Timeline for repairs/retrofitting: 7-9 months.
• Over $28 million in economic benefit to the city of Medicine Hat form curling over the last 25 years.
• In 2022/2023 curlers were forced to relocate to Brooks, Redcliff, Irvine, Schuler, Bow Island or didn’t play at all.
These highlights offer the major speaking points of the presentation, a full copy of the presentation will be attached.
As presented to council, The Board feels that best way for us to have curling in our current building for the upcoming season is to retrofit our building with ice mats. These ice mats are simply large rolls of plastic tubing that can be rolled out onto our existing surface allowing us to use our current building. Some of the benefits to these mats include, easy installation, easily repairable, portable, and reusable. As we plan on using this new system for our flooring, we will also need a new ice plant. The new ice plant is eco friendly, portable, and more energy efficient reducing utility costs.
The Board has done hours of research, conference calls, and many meetings trying to determine the best outcome to get curling back in our community. The solution we have concluded is by no means a complete long-term solution but should allow us to get by until a new facility can be built.
Overall, The Board feels hopeful as we continue to work towards a solution with the city. We thank you again for your continued support and patience. Additional information can be found in the presentation attached, as well as news articles in both Chat News and Medicine Hat News.
Thank you all again!
Respectfully submitted,
Bryden Smith
See past updates below
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November 9, 2022 – Update
Hi everyone,
I wanted to provide an update on our curling club
and the situation we are currently facing. Last week workers from Gateway started
taking out the brine from our ice plant and brine lines but due to the
arrangement of our brine line system it is impossible to get most of it out by simply
draining it. They are bringing in a vacuum truck to get the remaining brine out
and continue with pressure testing. The plan is currently to cut and cap off
the damaged lines on sheet 8, and half of sheet 7. Sheet 1 and half of sheet 2
will also be cut and capped, once the headers on those sheets are capped, they
will start systematically testing the lines. As they remove the brine from the
ice surface, it will be placed into storage tanks, Gateway is hopeful it can
stay clean and be able to be re-used. At this time we have no further updates
to share, however as more testing is conducted and additional information is
discovered it will be shared with our members.
I do want to take this time to thank everyone for
their patience and understanding. This is no easy task nor is it one that can
be rushed, we all want to be out and curling as soon as possible but we want to
make sure we are taking the proper steps in order to provide a facility that is
of high standard both for now and the future. The board is doing its very best
to act in our member’s best interest and be as diligent and transparent as
possible. Again, thank you for your understanding during this time and I hope
to be able to provide positive updates soon.
Respectfully,
Bryden Smith (President)
