Here is a rundown of some of the other items that came up at the final City of North Battleford council meeting of the current term Oct. 17:
There has been a further delay to the dredging work due to happen at the F.E. Holliday intakes in the North Saskatchewan River.
The plan had been to start dredging work Oct. 11. However, it was noted the contractor had been delayed due to work still being done at the Mosaic potash mine project elsewhere, which ended Oct 14.
According to Director of Operations Stewart Schafer, they should be here again Oct. 24 and the dredging should take 16 days.
Even though the work would spill into November, Schafer was assured it would be done before the ice started flowing.
The dredging work had originally been scheduled for July, but was delayed considerably after the Husky oil spill happened around that same time in the North Saskatchewan River.
Schafer also talked about the timeline for commissioning the pre-filtration equipment so that the city could access water from the North Saskatchewan River again.
According to Schafer’s report the schedule calls for the equipment to arrive by Oct. 31 with the commissioning taking place between Nov. 7 and 18.
In other items from the meeting, the City received correspondence from the Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport, in which the province formally provided its one-year termination notice of its funding agreement with the City of North Battleford and Town of Battleford for the Battlefords River Valley.
The news was not unexpected after funding to the river valley was cut in the provincial budget.
While the agreement still has a year left to run, payments are subject to an appropriation made by the legislature in the provincial budget. That was not made, so even though the agreement still has one year to go, the provincial funding ends immediately.
Mayor Ian Hamilton noted, however, there is a desire by the City and Town to continue to collaborate in the River Valley.
In inquiries, Councillor Kelli Hawtin asked about what was happening with development at the old RCMP building. City Director of Business Development Jennifer Niesink said the restoration work was moving slowly.
“It’s slow-moving, they are doing a little bit of work here and there,” Niesink said. The end use of the building isn’t clear, he said.
Councillor Don Buglas asked about the state of the grounds there. “Leaving it in that condition for the winter is not a positive move by any means,” Buglas said. Fire Chief Albert Headrick responded there has been a couple of conversations with the owner about the issue.
Finally, Bill Samborski provided a strong Leisure Services report for the month of September, including the numbers from a successful Send Off to Summer Drive-in Movie event Sept. 16, sponsored by Innovation Credit Union.
According to Samborski’s report approximately 500 cars attended the outdoor screening of Finding Dory, with Fresh Air Cinemas providing the screen and sound system.
Also part of the event was Second 2 None catering, concessions by Battlefords Lifeguard Development Fund, Innovation Credit Union Mobile Advice Centre, free popcorn and balloons, and Rivers West District funded the portable washrooms from Crush Environmental.
“It ended up being bigger than we could have imagined,” said Samborski, who added they’d like to see it become an annual event.
