$940K requested for ice rink repairs
By Kevin O’Brien
While still studying the possibility of building a new ice arena, the Marathon County Parks Department is asking the county board to come up with $940,000 this year to do short-term repairs of the existing ice rinks at Marathon Park in Wausau.
Parks Department director Jamie Polley told the Environmental Resources committee last week that major repairs to the ice facilities are needed before the hockey and skating season begins again at the end of the year. In response, committee members voted to pass the request on to the Human Resources, Finance and Personal Committee (HRFC), which will meet today to discuss how to cover the $940,000 in expenses with a mid-year budget amendment.
ERC chairman Jacob Langenhahn said the six-figure funding request initially made him nervous, but he realizes that the work needs to be done in order to keep the existing facilities useable for the many groups that rely on them.
“If we don’t approve this short-term fix, that area is just going to be shot and there’s going be no value in it at all,” he said. “If we want to have discussions about the longterm future of the county in ice (facilities), I think we need to do that after we get this short-term fix done.”
According to a memo from Polley, the most cost-effective option for fixing multiple leaks and corrosion in Rink 1, which was built in 1985, is “the purchase of a mat system that can be installed over the existing concrete floor.”
“In addition to the mat system, there are repairs needed to the refrigeration piping to tie the mat system into the existing refrigeration system and address aging infrastructure including the cooling tower,” she wrote.
If the repairs to Rink 1 are not approved, Polley said there’s a “very high risk that the system will be non-functional for the 202526 season.” One advantage of the mat system is that it can be reused on other county facilities or sold off once a long-term solution in decided on, she said.
When asked how long the mat system would last, Polley said 10 years or less, depending on how well it holds up to the wear and tear of being removed every year to allow the rink to be used for the county fair.
In her memo, Polley noted that the Marathon Park ice rinks are the home ice for two high school hockey teams in Wausau, a local youth league, three adult leagues and the semi-pro Wausau Cyclones. Timberline Figure Skating also uses the county’s ice on a regular basis.
The West Side Master Plan approved by the county board in 2023 calls for possibly building a new year-round ice arena on the corner of 17th Avenue and West Street if the Highway Department relocates to a new facility. Polley said the city-county parks commission believes that building a new ice arena would be the best option, but due to the high cost, it is recommending rebuilding Rink 1 at Marathon Park as a year-round facility and building a new refrigeration system for Rink 2.
The county has received a $375,000 grant from Wisconsin Emergency Management to study the feasibility of rebuilding the ice arena with space for an emergency storm shelter or “safe room.” Polley said including the safe room in the design would allow for more federal or state funding to complete construction.
In addition to recommending the $940,000 for short-term fixes, the ERC also approved a resolution in support of submitting a letter of commitment to the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program, which would require a 25 percent local funding match for the roughly $9.7 million available.
“This letter is NOT a commitment that the county is going to move forward with building a new ice arena or even that the county is ultimately going to accept grant funding for a construction project,” Polley wrote. “Instead, this letter is an acknowledgement that the county understands that, if it accepts grant funding for the project, the county would have corresponding funding or fundraising commitments.”
County administrator Lance Leonhard said it will ultimately be up to the county board whether it wants the county to continue providing an ice arena for the public to use in the future.
“It is not a mandated service,” he said. “It is something that a lot of people have come to rely upon for half a century.”
Supervisor Langenhahn, who has expressed doubts about whether he wants the county to continue to providing an ice arena, said grants and fundraising from user groups will be crucial in getting a new facility built.
“If you’re somebody who wants to see the county stay in the ice business, you’re going to have to identify several streams of funding to get this done,” he said. “I don’t think we’re in an era where we can just rely on the tax levy to pay for the entire thing.”
Jamie Polley
