It's a long process - and we're working on it.
It's the message Thunder Bay City Manager Norm Gale delivered on Friday morning, while he addressed some of the concerns of the hockey community, and its vocal opposition to the capacity limits in place at the city's satellite arenas.
Gale said the city was creating a full-time, temporary position to supervise staff and volunteers, as well as help with scheduling and training, so more screeners could be available at city arenas.
"We have a provincial regulation that we are required to follow. And that's what we're doing. All of our decisions are in respect to adhering to provincial law, and that is a really important point," Gale said.
There has been some success in having seasonal city staff transfer to the screener positions, Gale said, but more people are needed. So, the city will use volunteers, at least in the short-to-medium term to get more people into the stands.
"There has been some commentary on the amount of time or the amount of training that's been needed for volunteers. We need eight weeks maximum before the volunteers can be in place, perhaps sooner, but that doesn't mean that it's eight weeks of training," Gale said, responding to a number of concerns voiced online about needing two months for volunteers to be able to allow people into arenas.
"The actual training for screening is three hours. That three hours of training includes things like respecting personal health information and processes that we have. But the reason that's eight weeks is because we need to recruit. We need to onboard. We need to give other training to these volunteers that include health and safety codes of conduct, and then we need to schedule."
Gale said he understands the frustration felt by coaches, parents and organizations that rent ice from the city.
He said people are stressed, and some are funnelling their frustration onto city staff, which is unacceptable.
Lex MacArthur, who made a deputation to council regarding the capacity limits, and is also involved in minor hockey in Thunder Bay said he's not surprised by the message delivered by the city, but he pointed out other communities are allowing in more people to arenas than Thunder Bay is.
MacArthur said the hockey community will volunteer, if it means more people can watch games.
"I have put that message out, that if need be, and there is is a willingness among the community, they want to watch their kids play," said MacArthur.
Gale said the city has not determined exactly how it will pay - potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars - for the screeners and security services required to keep arenas open. He said at this time, the city is working with user groups, but no final decisions have been made.
City working on getting more staff, volunteers to screen at satellite arenas - CBC.ca
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