ALPENA — Private businesses aren’t the only ones forced to close, causing uncertainty for their owners, amid a statewide shutdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The ceasing of operations at the Alpena County-owned Plaza Pool and Northern Lights Arena could lead to financial distress for each if the shutdown lingers.

The longer Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home order lasts, the longer it will take to complete construction of the new Alpena County Jail, as the project has been placed on hiatus and workers sent home.

As of Monday, there were no confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, in Alpena, Presque Isle, Montmorency, or Alcona counties. Statewide, nearly 6,500 cases have been reported, mostly in the Detroit region, and 184 deaths.

For years, the ice-rink arena and the pool have struggled financially, kept afloat with money from the county’s Youth and Recreation millage. With revenue streams shriveled up and some expenses still in place, the county and facility managers are doing their best to get by until they get the all-clear to reopen — which is unlikely to happen any time soon.

Even when it does, it could take weeks to return operations to normal, officials said.

Alpena County Commissioner Bill Peterson said both sheets of ice have been taken down and the arena is closed. He said utility bills should be lower, but it’s possible the arena’s management group, Northern Lights Arena-Community, could ask for emergency funds to pay bills.

Peterson said the county is working hard to come up with a plan to help alleviate some of the financial stress.

“There are some things we are currently working on behind the scenes, and we should know a lot more about it next week,” Peterson said. “I think we need to help the arena and pool, or they could just give them back to us to run, and we would rather not do that.”

Norm Sommerfeld, owner of the pool management firm Syhncronizations Management, said the pool’s been drained and the facility is closed.

Gas and electrical bills will be minimal while the pool is closed, he said, but he’ll get little revenue other than the monthly stipend of about $8,000 from the Youth and Rec tax.

Sommerfeld said he hopes he won’t have to ask the county for more money, but that depends on how long the coronavirus threat lingers.

“We were doing good before this,” Sommerfeld said. “Our swim lessons were up, as were the number of people coming to open swim. Yes, the current situation is a concern, but to what degree this impacts us financially will depend on how long this drags on.”

The pandemic has also led to further delay to the jail project in Alpena County.

Peterson, who is on the county’s jail committee, said contractors sent employees home last week and there has been no activity at the site since. He said several months ago the project was behind schedule, but, recently, great strides were made to get back on track.

Now, Peterson said, the project will slip behind once more.

“This is going to push us back,” Peterson said. “If we are shut down for two months, we’ll be two months behind. If it’s a month, we’ll be behind a month, and so on. It is really all up in the air, right now.”

Peterson said he is confident that, when the pandemic clears, the arena, pool, and jail project will rebound in time. There may be some changes to operations, too, although those decisions will be made down the road.

“Who knows what will happen? We might only keep both sheets of ice down until July and then continue with just one,” he said. “There is a lot of uncertainty, but I’m optimistic that things can return to normal.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.