NIPAWIN — For Nipawin’s Mayor Rennie Harper, while the town has had several capital projects accomplished over the past year, some of the highlights came from the community.
“One of the most important things to this council is how our town actually epitomizes a ‘town for the people’ and how the town supports the people of this community as a whole,” Harper said.
“The town is really about supporting sewer and water and bylaw and taxes and all of that kind of stuff, but we want to be supportive of a lot of the things going on in our community to help people enjoy our community.”
Some of the community projects in the past year Harper considered to be highlights includes a Reconciliation Nipawin event over the summer which featured testimonies of residential school survivors, the new mural created by Rita Swanson depicting the 1924 move of the old Town of Nipawin, the reconciliation flag raising at city hall, the winter lights tour, community gardens, tree lighting and the opening of Nipawin’s Early Years Family Resource Centre.
“Right now there’s nominating for the house lighting and recognizing ordinary families who have decorated their homes for the enjoyment of everybody,” she said. “I can name endless amounts of things.”
For awards, Barbers Pond was the winner of Lakeland District’s best winter spot for 2021, as well as being named the provincial champion of the SledTown ShowTown for the best place to sled in Saskatchewan.
The skis, snowshoes, fat-tire bikes and the backyard games that the town has implemented, both at the Evergreen and in Central Park, Harper called “huge successes” with about 400 people taking advantage of the equipment.
“It’s such a great place to play, it’s such a great place to grow for the people here and around us and the people who come to visit.”
For tourism in 2021, the town hired a marketing and tourism co-ordinator. Harper said traffic at the Nipawin tourist information centre has increased by 150 per cent, and they anticipate it to increase even more as the town launches their tourism website this winter.
For local projects, the Boreal Area Regional Waste Authority Inc. (BARWA) received a $2.6 million Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program grant for the decommissioning of nine waste disposal cells at the landfill.
“We’re just gradually starting on that but the fact we were successful with our partners in achieving that together is a huge statement.”
Harper said the town is in the final stages of settling the heliport agreement with Twin Lakes partners, and in 2022 fundraising will be underway. Due to COVID-19, she said there were delays beginning the funding, with the Saskatchewan Health Authority needing to sign documentation. About $100,000 have currently been raised with the heliport requiring about five or six times that.
“Twin Lakes will be deciding how we want to go about this fundraising, if we will engage a group or what we’ll do.”
Another 2021 highlight for Harper is $50,000 in grant funding to extend a sidewalk along Highway 35 south, which she said will make it safer for residents to access the south side of town; and the funding for the addition of four new dressing rooms to Jubilee Arena which received about $1.2 million in federal and provincial funding.
That wasn’t the only renovations skaters may have noticed, with the Minor Hockey vanity box receiving safety netting.
Other grants the town received included AED “Save Stations” at the Evergreen Centre and the Town Square through funding received from CP Rail; as well as Municipal Economic Enhancement Funding (MEEP), which is being used to install the new lift station at the Gordon Subdivision. The work on the lift station is underway and expected to be completed in February, which Harper said will make it both more effective and increase the safety of the station.
The water treatment plant is fully operational with the town putting into production three new water wells in 2021, and more are expected to be installed in 2022.
“Those will ensure that ample water will be available to meet the needs of today and into the future for this community.”
To address concerns of residents along Guloien Avenue and Peters Avenue, the town is currently widening the road and adding ditching to make it more accessible. The work is expected to be completed in 2022.
Other 2022 highlights residents can expect is the delivery of the city’s new fire rescue truck, which was purchased in 2021 for $339,195 plus GST, replacing the town’s 2004 model; and the creation of a new five-year strategic plan.
Harper said she’s looking forward to another town hall opportunity.
For the first time in 2021, the town combined the town hall event where people can give feedback and ask questions, with community registration night in an effort to generate more community interest for the September event. Harper said the town found that format successful, and will look at continuing it in 2022.
“On behalf of the mayor and council of the Town of Nipawin I want to wish the citizens of the town and the surrounding area a very happy holiday season.”
