Supporters flocked to Memorial Hall in Jim Thorpe on Thursday night asking the town’s borough council to reconsider a plan to move the police department to the bottom floor of the building and allow for the space to be returned to its former use as an indoor roller-skating rink.

“There is a group of business owners and residents who are interested in forming a lease option proposal that would allow the rink to be operated as a separate entity from the borough,” resident Amy Kubishin said.

Kubishin along with her husband Ryan have been the driving force behind the movement to reopen the rink in the borough-owned building.

“We want to form a plan that works for all of us,” she said. “We acknowledge that the municipal offices and police department need to expand, but the community has spoken loudly and they don’t feel like they were given an option.”

Currently, borough office staff and the Jim Thorpe Police Department share a 3,332-square-foot building built in 2008 adjacent to Memorial Hall, a large, two-story borough-owned community center off East Tenth Street.

After a 2016 feasibility study cited concerns over safety and available space given the building’s current layout, the borough has been looking to relocate office staff and police.

One of the study’s recommendations was that the borough renovate Memorial Hall, use one-third of the top floor for office staff while keeping the rest of the space as a community center, and move its police department to the bottom floor, where the roller skating rink was once located.

The rink hasn’t been active in at least a decade and requires updates such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning work and mold remediation.

“I understand when the rink closed, there was nobody to run it and attendance was dwindling, but now you have people who are motivated and want to put in the time to create a plan,” Brian Evans, West Broadway resident, said. “I have talked to people in the community, and the support for the rink is overwhelming.”

Council President Greg Strubinger said Thursday that running a business such as a roller skating rink may be better suited for a private entity and not a borough government.

“It falls on the borough to be prudent with the limited funds we have,” Strubinger said. “To engage in a business, that is risky. Does the borough have the ability to take that risk? It’s questionable to do that with taxpayer funds.”

Thursday’s meeting drew rink supporters from the borough and surrounding areas such as Albrightsville, Summit Hill, Lehighton, McAdoo, Penn Forest Township and Nesquehoning.

Roller skating, Franklin Klock of Summit Hill said, can burn up to 600 calories per hour. Klock provided council with other skating facts including how it works out muscle groups such as glutes, quads, abs, calves and even arms.

“Thirty minutes of roller skating,” Klock said, produces an aerobic heart rate of at least 148 beats per minute.

For others, such as Jim Thorpe’s Chuck Durning, the rink brings back fond memories.

“I spent time at the rink as a teenager and it broke my heart to find out it’s not being used anymore,” borough resident Durning said. “I would love to see it active again because it’s something that my own children could utilize. A skating rink provides entertainment all year round and it’s a safe haven for children, teenagers and even adults who want to have a good time without going to a bar.”

McKenzie Snyder, a Jim Thorpe Area High School senior, recalled the skating parties she attended at the rink.

“They are some of my favorite memories and I hope it’s reopened so more kids can come and skate like I did,” Snyder said.

Heather Moore, a Jim Thorpe High School alumna, said her babysitting duties usually have her driving to Allentown or Scranton for indoor entertainment options, something reopening the skating rink would help.

“If we do bring skating back, a lot of our organizations will have fundraising nights here again,” Moore said.

A pre-COVID-19 estimate for the work the borough is proposing for the Memorial Hall project was $2.25 million, but that figure jumped to $3.72 million in May 2021.

The borough is expecting $2.5 million in U.S. House of Representatives appropriations money through the help of Congressman Dan Meuser and $1.465 million in U.S. Senate appropriations funds through the help of Sen. Bob Casey.

“Of the work that needs to be done, around $800,000 is repairs to Memorial Hall alone,” Councilman Mike Yeastedt said. “If we were to back up and consider a rink, we would lose that grant money and have to figure out how to pay for those repairs to the buildings.”

Council took no action on the rink request Thursday night.

“I think there are a lot of emotions here tonight so maybe we should take a pause and come back to this at a council meeting,” Councilwoman Jessica Crowley said near the end of the roughly two-hour meeting. “We’ve heard from a lot of the community here tonight who overwhelmingly support the skating rink. If we can’t get out of the grant, is there a compromise? I think we’ve definitely heard that something needs to be done as far as indoor activities for kids. Hopefully that is something council would consider.”