PROVO — A faulty chilling system at the Peaks Ice Arena that has been broken for more than year should be fixed in less than a month.
The Peaks will install a portable chiller owned by SLOC on Nov. 11, and repairs on the faulty refrigeration unit, which Peaks officials say leaks, will begin the next day and run through Nov. 17.
Repairs should not hamper operations at the Peaks, which is already undergoing renovation in preparation for the 2002 Winter Games.
The Peaks will host men's and women's hockey games during the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics.
"We are quite relieved and very excited that we have finally been able to come to a solution," said arena manager Max Rabner.
Members of the committee that oversees the rink joked Wednesday that a T-shirt should be made for them that reads: "I survived the Peaks fiasco."
Rabner expressed relief and suggested newspaper reporters would now "have to find something else to write about."
Rabner came under fire this summer when a senior Olympic official said he was very concerned the ice arena wouldn't be ready on time to host Olympic hockey games because of the chiller dispute.
Bickering over the refrigeration system that chills the arena's two ice sheets began shortly after it was installed. Rabner said the contractor who built the facility should pay for repairs on a leak in the chiller that he said could destroy the entire system.
The contractor, Hogan and Associates of Centerville, said the system did not leak and refused to pay for repairs. Rabner subsequently withheld a final payment of $84,091 from Hogan.
After months of prodding Rabner to reach an agreement with Hogan, the Provo City/Utah County Ice Sheet Authority — the governmental body that owns the arena — created a venue oversight committee in July to resolve the dispute.
While Wednesday's announcement of the repair schedule came as a relief to authority board members, it did little for Mike Hogan, who is still waiting for an $84,000 check for his company's work.
"I've never understood why they haven't paid us. It's been very frustrating," Hogan said. "We're just trying to be patient and not create any waves."
Rabner did not return Deseret News phone calls seeking comment, but he has previously said he intends to deduct the cost of repairs from what he owes Hogan.
E-MAIL: jhyde@desnews.com