Wasilla seeks manager for multi-use facility as steel work proceeds

WASILLA -- As the steel goes up at Wasilla's multi-million-dollar sports complex, the city is preparing for the day when its doors open.

The nearly $15 million multi-use sports facility, which will include an indoor ice rink, an artificial turf arena and meeting rooms, is slated to be completed this coming February, and Wasilla is looking for someone to run the place.

"We're ready to start hiring a manager," Public Works Director Don Shiesl told the Wasilla City Council this week. While the grand opening is still months away, Shiesl said it would be prudent to get a facility manager in on the ground floor, "so they can learn the building … all the ins and outs of it, literally."

Shiesl said the city's goal is to have someone hired and on the job by sometime in September.

Wasilla will be advertising the position in a variety of places, including on an international Web site that Mayor Dianne Keller said will expand the pool of applicants. The position includes a $50,000 per year salary and benefits that bring the entire annual total to nearly $73,000.

Shiesl said hiring a manager won't preclude contracting out some services and relying on volunteers as well. However, he said it is important to have a city employee heading up the day-to-day operations of the complex.

At the same time, project manager Don Moore is preparing to end his term of service with the city. Moore had been overseeing the construction of the complex, but Keller said more and more of the decisions are operational in nature and so better left to the incoming manager.

Moore said he was working with the city on issues such as a legal dispute over the land for the facility, bidding and getting the construction work underway. With many of these hurdles cleared, Moore said it is time for the city to shift its focus.

"It's certainly not too early to be ordering equipment … buying the Zamboni and that sort of stuff," Moore said.

Moore said the contractor, Howdie Inc., is on time with the construction project. The foundation work is done, the steel is being erected on the sports arena side of the facility and more steel is arriving for the ice arena portion.

With just 20 percent or so of the construction work done, the city is already hearing from groups interested in booking the facility. One event was being considered for this coming March, but the mayor said the city decided it might be cutting it too close to the February completion goal and so did not schedule the event.

City officials anticipate a great deal of interest in the facility, which will be designed to host everything from hockey games and indoor soccer matches to meetings and gun shows. The ice arena will feature seating for nearly 1,400, and the artificial turf side of the facility will have bleachers for about 200. The design also includes nearly 3,000 square feet of meeting and conference rooms as well as space that could in the future be developed into administrative offices and a catering kitchen.

Construction of the sports complex is being funded by a $14.7 million bond package voters approved more than a year ago. The bond came with a sales-tax increase from 2 percent to 2.5 percent, which will expire in 10 years or when the bonds are paid off, whichever comes first.

The facility is being built near South Church Road, east of downtown Wasilla off the Parks Highway.