A series of breakdowns and the loss of a tenant has temporarily closed the Craik Eco-Centre.

Craik Mayor Rick Rogers said the Eco-Centre closed Dec. 1 and would remain dark till the spring due to a water line to the building breaking in September, a heat pump in the geothermal heating system quitting a couple months after that and their main tenant walking away from the centre once they finished their lease at the end of November.

“The field slid there behind the building and we have to move the water line,” said Rogers. “It was getting late in the fall and we said ‘well, we’ll do it in the spring.’ We’ll re-pipe that line there in a different way. (We’ve) actually fixed it twice already and it broke again.”

Rogers said a repairperson from Saskatoon was scheduled to arrive last week to replace the pump for the geothermal heating system. He said the pump was the main priority because without it the temperature had fallen to “about 6ºC or 7ºC” in the centre, which is home to the Solar Garden Restaurant, conference rooms and the Craik and District Golf Club House and Pro Shop.

“We could move into there (this) week,” said Rogers, noting a working water line is not a necessity to having the centre open for business as they could haul water into the building instead. “But we’re going to do some painting and a major cleanup and we’re going to change around the kitchen a wee bit. We’re going to put another stove in there because one of the burners is burnt out, so we’re going to replace (that). We’ve got a bunch of things we’re going to do. We’re going to have a big day cleaning and stuff. A couple blinds aren’t working properly. We’re going to have to get them changed. (There’s) lots of little things we have to do to fix it up.”

The town has not advertised for a new tenant to run the Solar Garden Restaurant and rent out the meeting rooms as of yet, said Rogers, because they are currently in the process of re-writing the lease agreement. He said the last lease agreement was a “little too strict” on the tenant, so they are trying to make this one more lenient.

“It’ll be going for the golf season for sure,” he said. “We’ve had people wanting to run a restaurant there (already), so we don’t think we’ll have too much trouble once we put a tender up.”

To read more please see the February 3 print edition of The Davidson Leader.