NEGAUNEE, Mich. (WZMQ) – The City of Negaunee has approved a bond proposal to cover major system repairs to its ice arena.
On May 5, voters will see a proposal of $1.25 million dollars on their ballots. Across a two year period, the critical funding would work to fix the 40-year-old building’s computer systems, failing compression unit, and dehumidifier, while providing upgrades to locker rooms and its parking lot.
City Manager Nate Heffron says if passed, the project would take place during the off-season.
“The building has aged, and it needs some updates on it,” he said. “We would be hoping to start this project in late spring, early summer, finishing up right before the end of September, and having that hockey season commence for 2026-2027.”
Heffron also says if the bond is unable to pass, searching for alternative funding could lead to the potential closure of the rink, until the necessary repairs are made to at least the building’s compressor system.
“The building could just close down until we’re able to find the money to facilitate the repairs,” he explained. “That chilling unit with the dehumidifier are roughly coming in at about over half a million dollars. That’s a large sum of money that we’d have to find and it’s not easy to find, or we would have found it already and we would’ve fixed the facility.”
The city is currently searching for grants to offset some of the upgrade cost, but is mainly focusing on the help from community members.
