JOHN COFFELTEditor

The Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved at the June 4 meeting a $43,287.20 bid from Artificial Ice Events for the rental of an ice skating rink.

The rink will be located at Rotary Amphitheater from Dec. 2-22.

Vice Mayor Mark Messick floated the idea during the meeting of waive the $10 per hour admission.

“I’d like to waive the $10 fee. For once let’s do something nice for the citizens of Manchester to come and do,” Messick said.

The cost of Rec Department labor required to man the rink for the 21 days was not available at the meeting. The matter of the fees will go to the Finance Committee for further study.

The city will incur labor costs from part-time employees working at the rink.

“We will set hours,” said Recreation Dept. Assistant Director Becki Johnson said. “We will have an operating plan of how many sessions we will offer and what days we will offer sessions. (The fees) will more than cover any cost of part-time staff we use to operate it. We will have people to do skate rentals, and have skate officials to monitor those skating.”

Alderman Joey Hobbs noted that the funds for the contract were from a grand that the Manchester Chamber of Commerce and the Tourism Committee worked on and does not use any tax payer money.

“We talked about it last year and it didn’t come to fruition,” Hobbs said, referring to the late in the year push in 2023 to set up the ice rink.

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.