The Town of Fort Frances is hoping to clear up some lingering misinformation surrounding the new fee at the Memorial Sports Centre.
Aaron Bisson, the town’s culture and recreation manager, explained that the message surrounding the newly implemented $7 cleaning fee that has gone into effect at the sports centre has become muddled and people are getting the wrong idea about how it works.
“The $7 user fee is a per user per month charge and once paid the charge covers the month in which it is paid,” Bisson said.
“It is not a per use charge. It applies to all ice users, swim teams, exercise and organized activity groups using the auditorium and the walking track. It is not charged to spectators or membership holders using the gym, pool, squash courts.”
The new fee is intended to cover the increased cleaning and sanitization costs for surfaces in the Memorial Sports Centre. Previously, other methods of covering those costs were considered, including extending the amount of time each ice user would be required to book in order to add a buffer period to clean between each ice time reservation.
The walking track at the 52 Canadians Arena was reopened last week, and spectators at Under Nine (U9) and Under 7 (U7) were also allowed back into games and practices last Tuesday, though limited to one spectator per player on the ice. Yesterday the town opened the “one spectator per player” policy to all remaining age groups.
