With the ice rink in East Haven remaining shuttered since March and longtime recreation director Lou Pane retiring suddenly this summer, the Town of East Haven is now exploring options for repairing and reopening the rink.

The Town Council included the rink repair in the 2020-’21 capital budget and the town is also in the process of updating the recreation director job description in order to move ahead in hiring a replacement for Pane.

“Our goal is to get the rink online as soon as possible; however, this project will go out to competitive bid so that the town receives the most qualified and cost-effective company to complete the work,” said Mayor Joseph Carfora. “Once we are deeper into that process, we will have a better idea” of costs and the timeline.

Carfora and his staff are continuing to evaluate the true costs of operating the rink as well as the expected revenue, saying that the “previous administration’s budgets were inflated and not accurate.” Their research has shown that ice time at the East Haven rink was “considerably cheaper” than ice time at similar facilities in the area.

While the exact repairs and the scope of the project is still being evaluated, Carfora noted that the life span of the facility as well as a lack of maintenance contributed to the issues being faced.

With plans for repair in the works, the administration is not only looking into upgrading the rink and addressing the issues, but the possibility of expanding the offerings of the facility as well.

“We see this facility as one that has the potential to be a multi-use facility when it is repaired,” said Carfora. “Obviously when the ice is down it is exclusively an ice hockey and skating facility, but we want to explore others uses within our recreation department for the months when the ice is not down.