By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

For the first month since it was built in the late 1990s, the Pelham Civic Complex and Ice Arena has an event booked every day in March, Pelham Mayor Gary Waters said during a recent resident town hall meeting.

“For the first time ever, something is booked every day in the month of March,” Waters said, drawing applause from those at the town hall meeting, which was held at the Civic Complex on March 7.

Pelham officials previously said the city had to transfer about $1 million annually from the Pelham general fund to balance the budget for the city-owned facility. Civic Complex Director Danny Tate, who was named to the position in late 2012 after serving as the Pelham Skate School director, said he and other Civic Complex employees have been attempting to market the facility more aggressively.

“We’ve heard a lot of good things about the things we’ve been trying to accomplish,” Tate said on March 13. “I think people recognize that we’ve been working really hard to offer them a pristine environment here.”

The Civic Complex recently voted to accept a $37,318.50 bid from the Jackson Ultima Skate company to purchase 530 pairs of figure skates and 97 pairs of hockey skates to replace old pairs of rental skates.

Tate said the new equipment will replace some skates as old as the facility, and said he will start trying to update equipment on a regular basis in the future.

“We are excited about the things that have been happening here,” Tate said. “The more service-oriented you become, the more likely people are to return.”

For updates on special events scheduled at the Civic Complex, visit Facebook.com/pelhamciviccomplex.