Once again there was no shortage of news throughout an active 2012 at North Battleford City Hall.
From the budget deliberations at the start of the year, right through to nominations and the election of a new council, the past year was an eventful one.
The first order of business at the start of 2012 was budget deliberations.
Council approved a 3.9 per cent mill rate increase for 2012, but the vote wasn't unanimous as councillors Brad Pattinson and Trent Houk were both opposed.
The budget deliberations themselves drew concern from the arts community following an earlier suggestion by Houk to look for cost savings at the Don Ross. That raised concerns about the possible closure of either the Chapel Gallery or the Allen Sapp Gallery, but the majority of council had no enthusiasm for Houk's suggestion. When the budget vote came both the Chapel Gallery and Allen Sapp Gallery were still funded and still open.
Early in the new year, council had a decision to make on the fate of the Battlefords Indian and Métis Friendship Centre's temporary homeless shelter, which threatened to cease operation at the end of January without more funding.
Council came through with funds to keep it open following a pledge from Senator Herb Sparrow to match funding with a personal charitable donation.
A major issue council had to deal with was the situation at the former site of the Jesus is Alive building that burned to the ground March 5.
A pile of bricks remained on the site and the city issued orders for it to be cleaned up. The Jesus is Alive owners went before council to appeal for more time, but council responded that the owners had to pay up back taxes first.
The owners did not come up with all of the money in time by the deadline date, and the bulldozers were immediately sent in by the City to sweep away the remaining rubble.
In May, city officials and others throughout the community bid farewell to the city's former mayor Julian Sadlowski.
Sadlowski served as mayor from 2003 to '09. City manager Jim Toye delivered the eulogy at the funeral service held at a packed-to-the-rafters Notre Dame de Lourdes Roman Catholic Church in North Battleford.
During the year, city employees who were members of the CUPE union filled the gallery at city council chambers on a regular basis as spectators - part of an ongoing campaign for a new collective bargaining agreement. CUPE finally concluded a deal with the City in the spring.
Not filled so often were the seats on city council itself.
Councillors Grace Lang and Ron Crush called out their fellow councillors for the absenteeism. Crush repeated an earlier call for meeting attendance records of councillors to be published and made public.
Crush made another suggestion later in the summer: have candidates submit to criminal record checks for the upcoming civic election. His ideas prompted lively discussion in the community, and the record checks idea had some support from other councillors, but ultimately it did not come to fruition.
The Credit Union CUPlex continued to be a major topic at City Hall. This year, the main decision-making surrounded the transitioning from the old facilities to the new one.
The most heated debates concerned what to do about the Kinsmen Aquatic Centre once the new Battlefords Co-op Aquatic Centre opened. After consultants' reports came back indicating that costs for renovating and repairing the old facility would be through the roof - upwards of millions of dollars - Parks and Recreation Director Keith Anderson made the recommendation to council that the facility be demolished.
The recommendation was one Anderson was not happy to make, given the history and memories associated with the old facility.
Soon after, the City found a buyer for the property surrounding the old Aquatic Centre. Caleb Group of Saskatoon unveiled plans for a 94-unit seniors' condominium and apartments on the adjoining property, and received the necessary approvals and rezoning.
The approvals did not come without some last-ditch fireworks from Richard Hiebert and the Battlefords Heritage Society, who tried to convince council to save the Kinsmen Aquatic Centre from the wrecking ball. His efforts were to no avail, however, as the Caleb Group proposal got the go-ahead.
By year's end construction had started on the new condo right next to the old Kinsmen Aquatic Centre, which closed after 47 years of service in September. The old facility will likely meet its wrecking-ball fate in 2013.
The most memorable council meeting of North Battleford city council in 2012, for all kinds of reasons, was undoubtedly the one on June 25, when councillors considered whether to proceed with the new Greater Battlefords Marketing Alliance.
The new setup to market the Battlefords region to potential tourists and businesses did not come without fireworks from Battlefords Tourism chair Donna Challis, whose organization was about to disappear under the new setup. Challis went before council and compared it to throwing out "the baby, the bathwater and the tub."
When it got around to time to finally vote on the Greater Battlefords Marketing Alliance, councillors and city administration officials were thrown for a loop, as a vicious summer storm shook the roof at City Hall and knocked out power across the city.
In an unusual move Mayor Ian Hamilton was forced to adjourn the meeting to the following day at noon. It was at that time that the Greater Battlefords Marketing Alliance finally received its stamp of approval.
But that issue had become an afterthought in the wake of heavy damage sustained by the city in the wake of the storm that had hit the previous night.
Another contentious issue that dominated several council meetings in 2012 was the land donation for the First Nations Heritage Park in the city's southeast quadrant. After much discussion that donation went ahead by a 4-3 decision.
The issue of the future of the downtown core was an ongoing issue, as downtown merchants worked to come up with a new Business Improvement District. At the same time, Richard Hiebert organized a tour of downtown Moose Jaw joined by councillors Ron Crush and Ray Fox, who got some ideas from that city on historical preservation and adaptive reuse efforts.
The fall of 2012 was dominated by a couple of major stories. The first was the grand opening of three of the components for the Credit Union CUPlex: the aquatic centre, theatre and curling centre.
The other was the civic election, as prospective candidates spent September filing nomination papers.
In the end, 12 candidates came forward to run for council, but only one candidate stood for mayor. Incumbent Ian Hamilton won re-election to a second term by acclamation.
Notably absent from the list of nominated candidates for council was 16-year veteran Brad Pattinson, who took on new responsibilities as mayor of the Resort Village of Cochin.
The election that followed produced some unexpected turnover. While three incumbents - Trent Houk, Ray Fox and Don Buglas - were re-elected, incumbents Grace Lang and Ron Crush were defeated.
Three new councillors were elected - Ryan Bater, Greg Lightfoot and Cathy Richardson.
Also new in November was a moustache from Mayor Ian Hamilton. He and several other civic officials grew moustaches as part of Movember efforts to raise awareness and funds for prostate cancer. The effort was successful in raising more than $3,000 for the cause.
More changes came for the city in December after Pat MacIsaac announced his resignation as fire chief following four years in the position.
As the year waned the city prepared for what promised to be major celebrations to usher in the centennial year of 2013.
It was all scheduled to kick of New Year's Eve with a big party at the Civic Centre entitled "Let's Get This Party Started," ushering in an exciting new year while at the same time closing the book on an interesting year at City Hall in North Battleford.
