The Donor Wall recognizes those who help to make Mosaic Place and YaraCentre a reality

So, are they following through? The Moose Jaw MultiPlex Builders group continues to operate, years after coming together with a plan for a new, downtown arena in our city.  

Mosaic Place and YaraCentre have been built and serving our community for a few years now but the fundraising continues.  In fact, MultiPlex Builders Co Chair Dr. Bill Deyo tells us they've got close to $7.5 million collected from the $10 million pledged by local citizens and businesses, big and small.

"We received a cheque from a national company in the amount of $20,000 and it's the fourth instalment of their pledge for $100,000. This is the kind of work that were doing now."

That cheque came from the Bank of Montreal, a major supporter of the project.

In addition to collecting the remainder of the pledges, Dr. Deyo and the group are looking forward to future enhancements to the facility.

"I'm pleased to say that the escalator contract has been awarded and that it'll be operational in 2015. There's several other enhancements that are in the works as well.. we're getting new, state of the art acrylic glass, a cat walk, security cameras and a power upgrade."

Those upgrades were not without controversy though. Moose Jaw City Council gave approval to a $1.1 million contract for the installation of motorized stairs at Mosaic Place, to be paid for with the $1.5 million left over in the contingency account for the original facility construction.

Things like safety measures, event hosting enhancements, power upgrades, along with communications and marketing equipment were approved last year when the debate started over what to do with the extra money left over from the project budget. Some members of council argued that the funds should be used for road and sewer repairs but the Multiplex Builders threatened a law suit, saying the cash was the result of their fundraising campaign and could only be spent on the facility.

The argument started when administration revealed the budget for the projects would likely come in with a surplus in the contingency account several years ago. The fund is money that is set aside from the start to cover any cost overruns during the construction process. While the project did dip into the account on a number of occasions, there was $1.5 million left over.

Some argue that money comes from the over abundance of donations while others say you can't say for certain if it came from donations, city money or funding from the province and the feds, it's just money.