Politics & Government

Council Agrees to $15,000 Settlement Over Defective Hockey Boards

City officials considered legal action against Minneapolis-based Sports Resource Group after the company declined a full refund for a set of defective hockey rink boards.

Inver Grove Heights city officials have agreed to a $15,000 settlement with Minneapolis-based Sports Resource Group over a defective set of hockey rink boards purchased by the city in 2008.

Members of the Inver Grove Heights City Council unanimously approved the agreement during a council meeting last week. As part of the agreement, the city will return the rink boards to SRG by April 30, 2012. In exchange, SRG will pay the city a $15,000 refund for the boards, according to a memo produced by Inver Grove Heights Parks and Recreation Director Eric Carlson.

The city paid SRG $28,410 when it originally bought the set of hockey rink boards, identified as a ProWall Rink System in the agreement. But since the purchase, Carlson said, the boards have deteriorated at a rapid rate, and are now riddled with cracks and holes. At one point, city staff attempted to repair the rink boards by installing a runner along the bottom of the boards, but the fix didn't solve the problem, Carlson said.

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The boards, made out of plastic resin, are currently installed at in Inver Grove Heights. City officials believed the product would last 20 years or more, but started to notice problems with the product last year, Carlson said.

"We started to notice some cracks and holes caused by some pucks, and we started to get concerned about how long this product was going to last," Carlson said. "It didn’t perform the way it was advertised."

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The city contacted SRG last winter when the damage to the boards began to spread, Carlson said, but didn't sit down until this summer to hammer out an agreement.

SRG declined to refund the full cost of the rink boards, and instead offered a partial $15,000 refund, Carlson said. City officials considered a lawsuit against the company to recover the full cost, but felt the high cost of attorney's fees made the option cost prohibitive, Carlson said.

“I still think if it wasn’t for legal fees, we would definitely be seeking more and demanding more, and would probably be successful in that process," Carlson said.

A SRG representative contacted by Patch earlier this week declined to comment for the story.

At least five or six other Minnesota cities have purchased the rink board system, Carlson said. Although the product is still under a warranty, the warranty doesn't cover full refunds or replacements of the system, Carlson said. Carlson can't explain what caused the cracking in the boards. Advertising for the product stated that it would stand up to temperature extremes, he added.

The boards installed at Skyview Park are the only system of this kind that the city owns, according to Carlson.

To view the terms of the agreement, click on the PDF file attached to this story and scroll down to page 34.


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