City spending more so Wichita Ice Center has ice during U.S. Figure Skating practice
You can’t practice figure skating in a puddle.
With the nation’s best synchronized skaters descending on Wichita this week for the U.S. Figure Skating Sectional Championship, the city has spent nearly $100,000 in January on temporary fixes so athletes get the practice time they were promised at the Wichita Ice Center.
It’s the first time both rinks at the publicly owned, privately run ice center have been frozen since July 2022, thanks to two temporary chilling systems.
Records show City Manager Robert Layton signed off on the rental and installation of the second temporary chiller on Jan. 5, three days after the city was informed the permanent fix won’t be in place before the end of March.
U.S. Figure Skating will pay a rate of $245 an hour to rent the ice center for an unspecified number of hours in the next week, a contract obtained by The Eagle shows. The four-day event starting Wednesday at Intrust Bank Arena is expected to bring 1,600 skaters and generate a $2.5 million economic impact, city spokesperson Megan Lovely said.
On Tuesday, the City Council will vote on a measure to retroactively approve the emergency spending authorized by Layton, as well as $378,462 in additional costs associated with renting the temporary chiller through March.
Data provided by the city shows Wichita has spent $3.9 million on deferred maintenance and repairs at the ice center since 2018.
If the council decides against paying for the rented chiller through March, the second rink will be out of commission until the replacement chiller barrel capable of keeping ice on both rinks can be installed.
The supplier, Vilter, initially said it could deliver the chiller barrel by December. According to city documents, the company provided no explanation for the months-long delay.
“Staff and AMS (the private company that manages the ice center) are engaged in ongoing discussions with Vilter and will continue to pursue its participation in costs resulting from the delay and its commitment to fully expedite production and delivery,” the staff report states. “Any reimbursement and/or shortened delivery time will result in reduced cost to the City. All costs are being shared with the Law Department, for consideration in ongoing legal action related to equipment failures at WIC.”
The city blames equipment failure on Genesis Health Clubs, the company it put in control of managing the facility for ten years from 2012 to 2022 and is now suing.
“Genesis failed to perform the necessary maintenance and repairs of the Wichita Ice Center facility, including a failure to maintain the ice making equipment and major ice maintenance equipment with chemically-treated water, causing this equipment to fail in June 2021,” the city’s lawsuit says.
Genesis filed a counterclaim blaming the city for lack of upkeep at the ice center.
“The City failed to properly maintain, repair and or/replace ice making equipment and major ice maintenance equipment, including replacement of an approximately 25-year-old chiller for the ice rink, despite Genesis’s requests that the City address same,” Genesis’s counterclaim says.
