Cookeville City Council Weighs In On Future PotentialOf Ice Facility

Cookeville City Council members say that an ice facility is unfeasible now, but could happen down the road.

Vice Mayor Laurin Wheaton said that she thinks the city has other focuses before taking on another project. However, she said that through this feasibility study the city now has formed a relationship with the Nashville Predators that could prove beneficial down the road.

“They were the ones who we were discussing with putting this ice center in so we’ve got that relationship now,” Wheaton said. “We kind of know now how to proceed if this ever does become a possibility. So I think just the education that we got, learning how that process goes, and developing that relationship is going to be very beneficial to us should we ever proceed with this in the future. ”

Council member Charles Womack said that a relationship with the Preds will be crucial should the ice facility eventually come to fruition. He said that they have the information that can help a potential Cookeville facility succeed.

“They have the expertise,” Womack said. “They’ve been involved with some of the other ventures in suburban counties around Nashville and I don’t think we have the expertise by ourselves to run an ice facility. I’m not saying build an ice facility right now, I’m just saying that we needed to learn the expenses, and costs, and benefits of building one. And we’ve gotten that from the report from Lose and associates.”

Wheaton said that the most surprising thing to her from the feasibility presentation was that Cookeville had grown enough to even consider such a project. Council member Mark Miller said that more growth is still needed to have the ice facility be worth the cost.

“Since our GDP and our population concentrations aren’t high enough to make it a profitable facility right now, I think as we grow it’s a project we can continue to look at,” Miller said. “(…) As we continue to grow, as our population becomes denser, as our GDP per capita increases just a little bit, I think it’s definitely a feasible project (in the future).”