City to buy new Zamboni for downtown arena ice

Posted on November 14, 2018

By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – A new Zamboni will soon resurface the ice at city government-owned Grossinger Motors Arena and the Pepsi Ice Center.

Bloomington aldermen, without discussion, approved spending $123,130 for the vehicle, replacing one the city purchased 12 years ago.

City Manager Tim Gleason said maintenance costs have reached $48,884.55 on the existing Zamboni to fix various mechanical problems. Gleason said the city is better off buying a new one, which will use electricity instead of propane. A staff report said that should improve arena air quality and reduce fuel costs.

The city will also receive $24,500 for trading in the 2006 model.

Two months ago, arena manager VenuWorks released an annual report saying the best the city could hope for is that the downtown venue would lose about $500,000 a year.

Gleason said neither the community or aldermen should be satisfied with that report. He directed city staffers to become more involved in arena management and maintenance.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]

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