Task Force to Review Future of Englewood Rink

A 15-person task force is set to consider the future of Englewood’s shuttered ice rink in MacKay Park, Mayor Frank Huttle said at a council meeting last week.

The task force will review if the city should keep the storm-damaged rink or tear it down and issue a report within 90 days of its first meeting. Huttle said he moved to create the group because no progress has been made in deciding what will happen at the John T. Wright Arena months after the council .

“We have talked about this too long...and now it’s time to get moving,” Huttle said.

The Boys & Girls Club of Garfield, which was hired to operate the rink, has terminated its lease as of June 12, Huttle said.

The advisory task force should include parents and community members, Huttle said. Huttle also asked two council members who voted against the rink repair plan, Eugene Skurnick and Wayne Hamer, to join the committee.

“Let the people of the City of Englewood work together in an organized fashion and put together a plan,” Huttle said.

Philip Vogel, a resident, said the city needed to fully support the rink if the task force recommends it should be reopened.

Vogel said schools booking rink time needed to know if Englewood’s facility would be open.

"They can't collect money and then refund it because Englewood decided not to open the rink the last week of August,” he said.

Resident Curtis Caviness objected to the process and said the rink had already been discussed repeatedly.

"It does not take a committee to put out a camp fire," he said.  

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