Hockey season is approaching and Powell River Kings are awaiting a decision regarding the club’s goal to coordinate liquor sales in Hap Parker Arena.
At City of Powell River’s Thursday, August 20, council meeting, council was asked to consider a recommendation that staff be directed to enter into an agreement between the city and the Kings to provide alcohol sales at the arena. The agreement would assign the existing liquor licence held by the city to the Kings’ hockey club society.
At the beginning of the discussion, Mayor Dave Formosa declared a conflict because he is a liquor licence holder in the community. Ray Boogaards, director of parks, recreation and culture, then introduced the recommendation, which had been discussed by council’s committee of the whole August 18.
Councillor Maggie Hathaway said she had some concerns about the process of allocating the liquor licence. She had questions about community consultation for granting the licence and sales to the hockey club.
“There’s an awful lot of non-profits out there that might be wanting or willing to run something like this,” Hathaway said. She asked how the decision was made to grant the licence to the Kings.
Boogaards said he looked at who had the majority of events in the arena. He said the Kings host most of them.
“It was the logical group to deal with,” he said.
Hathaway said she didn’t think she had enough information about what kind of agreement the city would be entering into with the hockey club. She said she was being asked to agree to a contract she hadn’t seen and it didn’t make sense.
“I just feel like I’m signing a blank cheque and it goes against my principles,” Hathaway said. “However, I agree that it’s probably a good idea.” She wanted to see the contract before final approval.
Council decided to hold off on adoption of the recommendation until councillors have the opportunity to read the contract. Councillors said they were prepared to hold a special meeting to approve the agreement so that approval, if granted, will be in time for the hockey season. Otherwise, the city would have to hire staff to serve alcohol at hockey games.
During the Tuesday, August 18 committee of the whole meeting, Boogaards said, with the exception of the 2014-2015 hockey season, each group or organization sponsoring activities in the arena was given the ability to serve liquor during events under the city policy.
“After some research we found out this was not permitted,” Boogaards said. “The city could only issue the third-party licence to one group.”
During 2014-2015, the sale of liquor in the arena was part of the food and beverage service operator’s agreement. With the recommendation that the Kings take over the responsibility, the Kings would work with other groups wishing to serve alcohol at the other groups’ events. In return the Kings would pay the city a flat rate for pre-season and regular season junior hockey games. The hockey club would pay a higher rate during playoff games and large events.
Boogaards said the proposed agreement between the city and the Kings would be for three years.
Councillor Rob Southcott said this would mean the Kings would provide staff to serve alcohol.
Boogaards said his understanding was that the Kings would supply a supervisor who would oversee volunteers.
He said the initiative to grant the Kings the licence is an evolution. Last year the city took the stance that it was better to control the alcohol sales through the food and beverage operator.
“We worked through it for the year and we had many hiccups,” Boogaards said.
The proposed new model would be advantageous for the city in terms of its administration and would be more economical, too, because the city would no longer have to look after money, according to Boogaards.
Councillor CaroleAnn Leishman, who chaired the committee meeting, asked if other groups using the facility wanting to serve alcohol had to have a person from the Kings in attendance. Boogaards said that was something that has to be worked out with the Kings. He said the desire is for these other groups to have the opportunity to generate revenue from their events. The Kings are the third-party operator that would have the licence so they would have to ensure the liquor sales were controlled.
“We’ve encouraged the Kings to work with all of these groups and they have been very receptive,” Boogaards said.
A special meeting of council, to discuss liquor sales at the arena, will take place at noon, Thursday, September 10, in council chambers at city hall.
