The director of Sarnia's Parks and Recreation Department says work on a new lease agreement with the Sarnia Sting Hockey Club for the use of Progressive Auto Sales Arena is underway.
The OHL team's five-year contract with the city expires June 30 and they want the terms renegotiated before the end of this hockey season.
Club members appeared before council Monday to highlight concerns.
Director Rob Harwood doesn't argue that the building has a lot of capital needs but told council he was surprised by some of the complaints.
"It's unfortunate for staff that we are being considered as being tough to deal with when in fact we have a lease agreement, and my job as director is to live by that lease agreement that's endorsed by staff and signed by the team and by city council," said Harwood.
He said they've made significant improvements to the arena since assuming operation of the facility nearly 5 years ago, including major electrical work, replacing the speakers, painting and bathroom repairs.
"When we took over in 2014, it was in bad shape. I had seven pages of electrical compliance orders that we had to take care of. I had three outstanding TSSA [Technical Standards and Safety Authority] orders, relative to the fire system and refrigeration system we had to take care of. So, we've cleaned all those things up," he said.
Harwood said air conditioning repairs have been approved and roof leaks are being monitored closely and repaired when needed.
"As I explained to the team, we don't have the funding to do everything that we would like to do, so we take every opportunity to stretch a nickel into a dime and therefore applying for every grant that's available to try and make the place a little bit more efficient," he said.
Acting CAO and Finance Director Lisa Armstrong also told council that the ticket surcharge being paid by fans is already directed into the arena's operating budget each year.