After years of a leakage that affected the ice surface and spending high amounts on power bills, locals in Tompkins are pleased with their new roof at the Tompkins Skating Rink.

On sunny days, including recent mild winter days, the sun would cause snow to melt through the roof holes, affecting not only the ice surface below but the general temperature of the building.

Tompkins Town Administrator Tammy Sloan explained more on the issue with the previous roof.

"You could see daylight through the ceiling and that would cause temperature variances and so then the roof would drip if the sun was shining outside and we'd get bumps on the ice."

Sloan says the group had most of the project booked, however needed some remaining grant money that eventually came in from the Gull Lake and Area Recreation Board Grant before confirming dates.

The community received approximately $6,700 from the Gull Lake grant for a grand total of $34,000 for the project. The rubber roof was installed a Medicine Hat company, Universal Flexible Energy.

"We got it done in December. We were waiting for some grant money to come through cause we knew what we wanted to do so we had them tenatively booked and then when our grants came through we booked them. Because we were so fortunate to have nice weather they were able to do it," Sloan tells SwiftCurrentOnline. "We were looking at having to wait until another season."

Sloan estimates the rubber coating took approximately four days to install. Since that time, the rink has already seen a good turnout of locals coming to skate.

The facility recently underwent upgrades to the lobby and booths with new countertops.