Lakeview Arena was among the topics of discussion at Monday’s Marquette City Commission meeting. Several people expressed concern at the meeting over what the city intends to do with the $150,000 award it received for upgrades to Lakeview Arena after winning the Kraft Hockeyville USA nationwide competition in 2016. (Journal file photo)

MARQUETTE — The Marquette City Commission heard from several people Monday night who expressed concern over how the city has addressed repairs at Lakeview Arena with the monetary award it received after winning the Kraft Hockeyville USA nationwide competition in 2016.

The $150,000 award for upgrades to Lakeview Arena was the grand prize for winning the competition, along with the opportunity to host a televised National Hockey League preseason game at the arena between the Buffalo Sabres and the Carolina Hurricanes.

Recently, a Facebook event was created asking any concerned arena users to attend Monday’s city commission meeting to seek answers from city officials.

Amanda Beerman, vice president of Marquette Junior Hockey, told the commission that hundreds of kids in the youth program spend nine months of the year at Lakeview Arena.

“Most of our kids are there three to four times per week,” Beerman said. “This is basically their major recreation throughout the winter.”

She explained that various tournaments are held through the season which bring an average of 150 out-of-town families to the area.

“I think it’s time that we do the things that we need done at Lakeview Arena to make it be a showplace and showcase for our city instead of letting it be run-down — it’s not clean, it’s in disrepair,” she said.

Beerman said there’s peeling paint throughout the building and that one bathroom has been blocked off for a month.

Kristen Cambensy, who’s a member of the nonprofit Friends of Lakeview Arena, attended the meeting as a concerned area resident.

“We created a Facebook event to get other concerned citizens to come to the meeting, not because we think the city has misspent, misused or misplaced Hockeyville money,” Cambensy said. “Our purpose in coming here tonight is to hear directly from the city — even though it’s not on the agenda — what plans are for Lakeview, what money will be spent on and when it will be spent.”

City Manager Mike Angeli said the Hockeyville competition came about the same time the city-wide Johnson Controls Inc. project began. He said the city didn’t want to spend any of the awarded money on projects that JCI planned to do, which focused on conserving energy and other repairs to the facility.

“At the time, I instructed Parks and Rec (Department) not to spend any of the Hockeyville money because I didn’t know what we were going to do with the JCI (projects),” Angeli said. “I knew in general terms but not clear, and what I didn’t want to happen was that $150,000 to be spent or wasted.”

Angeli said the city made a special effort to make certain repairs because they were aware equipment was failing in some cases.

“We spent $3.5 million on compressors, chillers, HVAC, dehumidification, lights,” Angeli said. “Things you can’t see, but necessary to make Lakeview run.”

Jon Swenson, director of Marquette Community Services, said about $60,000 of the $150,000 prize funds have been used to refurbish the Zambonis, repair a compressor, install new glass and rail cap on the Russell Arena, and provide protective netting.

Swenson said the city would like to use the rest of the award to match a grant and obtain more money to fund projects. He said all timelines for projects are dependent upon adoption of the city’s new Parks and Recreation Master Plan.

“What I really want to do is make sure we get the biggest bang for our buck,” Swenson said. “We have to finish and submit the five-year recreational plan to the state with all the items we had planned for Lakeview listed in the capital section. We’ve got a good amount of items in that section.”

Swenson said previously that once the master plan is completed, it can be used as a road map for Lakeview projects and could help secure grant funding through the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Members of Friends of Lakeview Arena, who currently have about $80,000 in raised funds, said they’d like to help in any way they can, but particularly they want to redo the concession area of the arena to make it a comfortable place for users.

The commission thanked everyone for attending the meeting, with Commissioner Dave Campana saying it’s important the commission hear the public’s concerns.

He said when he first came on the commission six years ago, Lakeview Arena was running a deficit of $400,000 a year, which had to be taken from the general fund. Now it’s about $250,000, he said, adding that it’s an expensive building to keep up.

Commissioner Paul Schloegel said the city and smaller groups that are involved with Lakeview Arena need to have better communication. Mayor Fred Stonehouse suggested that the groups come up with a list of the smaller items they could potentially work on fixing.

A city commission work session regarding the Parks and Recreational Master Plan will be held at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday in room 103 at city hall. The meeting is open to the public.