The rehabilitation of the Central Park fountain was a prominent topic at Monday’s council meeting in North Battleford.
Councillors heard from Michael Sutton, who is looking to restore or rebuild the fountain in Central Park near the library.
The current fountain has been out of use and in disrepair for some time. The empty shell has been used as a garbage dump by some members of the public.
One of Sutton’s motivations was to improve the overall appearance of the city.
“Improving the scenery definitely would be a major thing to look into doing,” he said.
Sutton says he believes a fountain is the most popular option for that area, given the feedback he’s received from other members of the public. He also sought the City’s help in terms of addressing the cost of the project.
Whether or not such a project would be viable was a major point of discussion that followed. Councillor Ryan Bater noted the issue of the future of the fountain had come up at budget deliberations in 2013. At that time council was told fountain replacement wasn’t doable because of tree root damage to the pumping system and the pipes. The talk at the time, Bater recalled, was of filling it in and building a garden or platform.
Director of Operations Stewart Schafer assured council, however, that “tree roots are not the issue for a fountain.”
“If we want it, we can find a way,” he added.
Also discussed were other options contemplated for the site. One possibility has been to put up a gazebo.
Councillor Ray Fox, who chaired Monday’s meeting in place of Mayor Ian Hamilton, said he had discussions with people on that option and some research had been done with other communities that had them, including Saskatoon and Regina.
Determining Central Park’s possible uses as a gathering place for people, and what structure would best complement were important factors for Bater.
“We have to have some soul searching in terms of the use of that park,” Bater suggested. “It’s probably a discussion we have to have over the coming months, because obviously there are future budget implications, potentially.”
City Manager Jim Puffalt noted a gazebo would cost $50,000, but a water fountain would be $100,000.
That would be for restoring the original. The cost of a new fountain would be significantly higher, he said.
Also discussed was the issue of vandalism at the park, but it was noted there hadn’t been Community Safety Officers in place before. It was also suggested security cameras could installed.
In any event, decisions on what to do about a fountain in Central Park are still to be determined.
The next steps include some further discussions, said Puffalt, and getting some ideas on pricing.
“It’s very high level, what we’re looking at right now. So we certainly want to quantify that a little bit closer down to try and get us an idea of do we put something in next year’s budget, do we start planning, do we do a design, just what our next steps should be.”
