Thousands Of Dollars In Renovations Made
CADILLAC -- It was a controversial take over, the Wexford County handed its Civic Center over to a private company. Now with several months behind us, opinion of the deal is looking up.
The new owners, Conerly Management Group, took over this past summer and have dumped thousands of dollars into renovating the building. Wednesday night, the Wexford County Board of Commissioners will discuss progress and listen to concerns residents may have.
Joe Conerly says “We’ve put a lot of effort, hard work, money and cleaning into making the place friendlier for families in the community."
So far they’ve spent about $100,000 in private funds to renovate the building.
Conerly says "Now we have two furnaces working out of 4. That’s not bad; better than nothing."
While Conerly says most Wexford County residents are thrilled with the new, cleaner building. They are concerned about upcoming changes coming to the ice skating schedule. Usually the rink is open through June for hockey camps, but this year he plans on closing the rink on March 15th.
Conerly says "The County always extended it through June, but it’s too expensive. It will cost $26,000 to keep the rink open the extra months."
As resident meet with the Wexford County Commissioners Wednesday for the public forum, Conerly is sure the issue will be brought up.
Conerly says “We have a lot of work to do, a lot of things to fix, we need the money.”
What do you think about the new changes to The Wex? Should the new owners keep the skating rink open through June? Or do you think they should close it in March as a cost saving measure? Leave your comments below.