Right in the centre - Staying on top of things

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Published on Thursday, August 22, 2024

Ken Waddell

Neepawa Banner & Press

Keeping everything repaired and up-to-date is a challenge for every town, village and municipality. Mosts towns and villages have really bad roads. There are places in many towns where some of the paved roads are so cracked and pitted, they might as well be gravel. 

If people don’t understand the concept and consequences of upkeep, they need only drive down a road and observe the condition of buildings. We have all seen large barns and houses shrink away due to neglect. First the roof leaks, then the rafters and roof decking start to sag, then the walls start to lean and while it may take many years, the house falls down. If only that first missing shingle had been replaced, disaster might have been avoided. 

In contrast, if the first leak was fixed, the long road to decay might have been avoided. The roof might have been saved and the building preserved. 

The analogy above is based on barns and houses but the management theory applies to roads, bridges, water and sewer lines and halls and arenas in every community. The following is but one example of many found across our readership area of the Neepawa Banner & Press, the Rivers Banner and the Virden Empire Advance.This past week, the arena at Neepawa, the Yellowhead Centre, had a major wake-up call. Here’s some background. The YHC was built in 1971-72. The hall was the warehouse for the former salt well and that part was built in the 1940s. The arena lobby was made in part from the salt well factory and the arena was a new steel structure in 1972. Under the arena floor are planks salvaged from the old CPR train station freight platform embedded into packed sand. The ice plant pipes are set on little tees on the planks and it’s all covered with concrete. Now after over 50 years, a pipe has sprung a leak and detecting and finding the leak and repairing it is delaying ice making for three weeks or so. It’s a very unfortunate situation. 

One problem is that proper checking of the ice plant and the pipes was not always done in a timely fashion over the years. The pipes are only the beginning, as many other aspects of the hall and arena have not been properly attended to as well. The caretakers over the years have done a great job of keeping the old place running but they can only do so much. 

The bigger problem with the Yellowhead is there are no reserve funds to pay for upkeep and long term repair. The YHC is owned by the Neepawa Centennial Project Committee and not owned by the Town of Neepawa. The Town doesn’t have a reserve fund for the arena although it has been suggested many times but always put off by successive councils. 

Now at over 50 years of age, the YHC, while in quite useable shape has been at a crossroads for a decade or more. Does the community of Neepawa plan for a new facility. Certainly Rivers and Virden can be very proud of their relatively new arenas and community complexes. In contrast to Neepawa I believe Virden and Rivers facilities are town owned compared to Neepawa’s community committee ownership. 

Neepawa has a problem and this latest incident is but one more warning shot that a plan had better be put in place soon before another mini-disaster strikes. All communities are full of competing needs, competing interests and, unfortunately, competing egos. What is needed is for the good of all our communities to be put in front of the parade and the other stuff set aside. It’s a tough job but anyone who steps up will have the full support of this community newspaper. 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are the writer’s personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the newspaper staff.