It was a year of progress but also a year of drama and debate at North Battleford City Hall.
The year saw the City move forward with all four components of the Credit Union CUPlex, with the last of the tenders awarded at a somewhat contentious special meeting of council in February.
That meeting also saw councillors raise the Recreation Culture Capital Facilities levy from $100 to $175.
While the continued progress of the CUPlex and its construction would prove to be a major issue at council throughout the year, it was only one of several.
One of the most pressing issues early on, though, was the budget, which proved to be a source of much angst at council.
Councillors finally accepted an 8.58 per cent hike to the mill rate in their operating and capital budget. Tara Scaglione reported from council on the developments:
"Of the increase, 6.04 per cent represents an increase to the Recreation Culture Capital Facilities levy. Council had approved a resolution to increase the residential levy by $75 and the commercial mill rate by 75 per cent, in early February.
" Highlights of the budget include a $50,000 increase to cover the budget requirement of the RCMP, $40,000 to revise the Fairview neighbourhood growth plan, $25,000 to assess the City's storm drain master plan and $30,000 for beautification, which will target flags, banners and entrance signs."
City Hall has an overhaul in its future, with $15,000 set aside in the budget for consultants and $1 million in the five-year plan to make the building more accessible to the public."
The vote to adopt the mill rate bylaws was not unanimous, though, as councillors Trent Houk and Grace Lang voted against, with Lang vocal throughout in her criticism of the way the budget process unfolded.
One of the issues that proved unexpectedly heated in early 2011 was an application by SpesMed, a medical practice located in the Territorial Mall, to convert a funeral home in the north end into expanded doctor's offices.
But their discretionary use application needed the approval of council to go ahead, and with the City seeking to locate professional offices in the downtown core, administration recommended against approval. But several councillors broke rank with administration on the issue and council was sharply divided on how to proceed.
What happened at the April 25 meeting was perhaps the most chaotic moment at council in 2011, as reported by the News-Optimist.
" Council voted 4-3 to defeat a resolution stating 'the application to establish a medical office at 2591 - 99th St. be denied.' One of the deciding votes against the resolution was cast by Councillor Ray Fox. A second resolution was then moved by Houk to approve the application. This time, Fox surprised everyone and switched sides. He voted no, sending the second resolution to approve the application to defeat as well. That led to confused looks on the faces of councillors, who realized they had rejected both opposing options on the table.
"An embarrassed-looking Fox immediately offered an apology and admitted he had been confused by the first resolution. He had meant to vote to support administration and deny the application, he said. But by casting a "no" vote to the resolution he ended up unwittingly voting the wrong way in favour of the application.
"As a result, Fox said, he had no choice but to vote no on the second resolution in order for the application to be rejected. 'I'm sorry I caused the confusion,' Fox said."
The response from the public was overwhelming, as the News-Optimist received a flurry of letters condemning the decision by council.
The SpesMed doctors later appealed the decision, and council finally reversed itself on the discretionary use application and approved SpesMed's bid to move to the funeral home.
A major changeover was seen in transit in 2011. The contract with First Bus Canada ended, and that meant new buses starting Oct. 1st, according to this account in the newspaper:
"The new-look North Battleford Transit System is now in operation.
"Oct. 1 was the first day of service for the transit system's two new 22-seat buses. The bright new white buses, with green lettering and images of the city on its windows, can now be seen travelling along the same routes the former yellow school buses had used for the transit service. The buses went into service that afternoon.
"In addition, new fares went into effect for the bus service, rising from $2 to $3 as of Oct.1."
A homeless shelter also loomed large on council's agenda with several applications aimed at addressing the issue considered.
Approval of the various applications proved difficult, though, as several councillors preferred a comprehensive and co-ordinated approach involving several government agencies and community organizations such as the United Way. An application to operate a shelter at the old Marlborough Inn location was turned down early in the year, while an application by Reclaim Outreach Centre to operate a shelter ended up in limbo for much of the year as administration studied the matter.
However, the election of Brad Pattinson to council in a September byelection ended up shaking things up.
One of the issues that saw movement as a result was the Reclaim Outreach Centre's shelter application. Pattinson wanted the issue settled once and for all and made the motion to approve their discretionary use application.
"Once in a while we have to take a leap of faith," Pattinson said. Despite concerns from businesses in the community and continuing concern from councillors about the viability of the centre, the discretionary use application was approved in a 4-3 vote in November, giving the green light to Reclaim Outreach Centre to start renovations to get their building up to code.
A week later, council held a special meeting to approve the Battlefords Indian Métis Friendship Centre's application for a temporary shelter to operate during the winter months once again.
An explosive in the fall was adoption of a new residential down payment grants policy, introduced for a new 21-unit condo project in Killdeer. The News-Optimist account of what happened was as follows:
"A fiery debate ensured at Tuesday's council meeting over a proposed draft policy to assist development of new affordable housing in the city. The policy for a new $5,000 residential down payment grant program was eventually adopted by a 4-2 vote, but not before vocal opposition was expressed from the two councillors who voted no: Brad Pattinson and Trent Houk. Both opposed the idea of taking tax dollars away from one group of residents and giving it to another to allow them to buy new condos. Houk also suggested during the meeting that mill rates could go up to fund the grants - something he opposed."
The program also brought fire from former mayor Wayne Ray, who called for council to reverse the policy in a presentation at a meeting in November.
Ray feared the policy amounted to downloading from the province of services that traditionally were not under city jurisdiction. He warned councillors the grant policy "begins to move our city into social housing - now and into the future. And it comes under the guise of economic development, which is a significant change in our city's philosophy,"
The year also saw completion and adoption by council of the City's strategic plan, followed by budget deliberations for the 2012 operations and capital budget with a proposed 3.9 per cent increase.
The budget would be the last for outgoing finance director Byron Tumbach, who has accepted a new position as chief adminstrative officer in Lumsden, a major step up in responsibility.
Meanwhile, construction continued on the Credit Union CUPlex project. Completion of the CUPlex, adoption of the budget and finding a replacement for Tumbach were expected to be the main challenges facing the city as the municipal election year of 2012 begins.
