The Cloquet School Board approves the hockey hall agreement

After reviewing the terms of the agreement back and forth, the school district has approved a three-year agreement that is valid for 2022-2024. The school district will pay $ 138,808 in 2022, and costs will increase 3% annually thereafter.

At the previous regular school meeting in August, the government had approved a one-year lease with the city. Cloquet City Council voted to reject the proposed lease because it had not previously discussed the one-year lease.

Both sides sat down for further discussions and negotiations.

“The Ice Rink Negotiating Committee met with the city administration,” Superintendent Michael Cary said. “We looked at the costs of the cities around the arena compared to their income. They showed us what their economic situation looks like every year. The city is still unable to cover its costs 100% under current leases.”

PREVIOUSLY: Cloquet School Board, City Council will continue to negotiate the lease of the ice rink

Cary said they could not get a better deal financially, but the city government agreed to add language to the lease, which requires the city to meet with the school district for a “deeper dive arena.”

Ted Lammi, chairman of the school board, expressed his dissatisfaction with the situation and voted against it because it was the only vote against the agreement.

“You all know how I feel, but I want to thank the negotiating committee for finding the best possible offer,” Lammi said.

To cover the leases, the school board also approved a $ 1 increase in gate fees for adults during hockey.

“Speaking to our operations manager, he felt that we kept the participation fees for adult hockey games fairly stable for several years, so it’s probably a reasonable time to consider a slight increase in the gate fee,” Cary said. “He thinks the increase should cover most of the cost of the hockey lease increases.”

The increase only applies to adult tickets and does not affect student prices. The board approved the flag raise by a 5-1 vote, and board member Ken Scarbrough opposed it.

“I’m going to vote against it. Unless there is a way to use this fee to cover the rent, I can’t see that it’s worth the ticket price,” Scarbrough said. “Our rent covers the cost of the arena. I just want to make sure we can get the fans there.”

Board member Dave Battaglia said he was also initially opposed to the fee increase, but said he thought local parents and adults could buy season tickets and avoid paying the increase.

“This ends up being more of a tourist tax because it’s mostly paid for by visiting adults,” Battaglia said.

Cary also mentioned that the government should be prepared to discuss raising hockey participation fees in the future. No changes are likely to be made for the academic year 2021-2022, but possible changes may occur by 2022-2023. No action was taken on this issue at the board meeting on Monday.