(Photo courtesy Facebook/Central Illinois Flying Aces)
By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON – Leaky pipes that are part of the ice-making system at the city government-owned Grossinger Motors Arena and the Pepsi Ice Center aren’t giving Bloomington aldermen much of a choice.
Aldermen have to replace the pipes at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money or they might not be able to make the ice that’s crucial to scheduling events and generating revenue at the downtown venues.
A report to the city council says staffers negotiated a price of $290,875 for Mid-Illinois Mechanical of Bloomington to replace warm brine pipes carrying salt water between the ice plant and the two ice rinks.
The ice plant system, installed 13 years ago, has sprung some leaks, according to the staff’s report.
The report said the city has budgeted $350,000 to repair such leaks. Staffers say the city had to negotiate a price because companies were too busy doing other work and did not bid for the project.
Crews would not directly replace buried pipes because it’s too expensive removing and then replacing concrete floors, coolers, interior walls, and other components to get to the underground pipes.
Instead, the idea is to build an overhead piping system, which would make it easier to detect leaks, and cheaper to make future repairs.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
