It was a great year for the City of Humboldt, with a number of projects coming to an end and new ones being developed.
"It has certainly been another exciting year," said Mayor Malcolm Eaton. "This year, council and our city administration and staff feel like we've made progress in a whole number of areas."
Whereas in 2010, heavy rainfall affected the city by setting back many projects and making it difficult to start new ones, Eaton feels in 2011 the city made a lot of progress.
This past year, the city saw a lot of projects come to fruition, such as the opening of the new Humboldt District Hospital and Caleb Village, commercial developments on the west side of the city, the new high school and community college progress and renovations to the Uniplex, including the linkage to the new high school.
"To see that advance, it's been a pretty exciting year to see those kinds of things occur," said Eaton. "Those are all projects that have been in the works for a number of years and people in the community and different organizations have been involved in supporting and working on those projects... so it is nice to see them come to fruition."
Now that the new Humboldt Collegiate Institute will be opening this month, city council is looking forward to the expansion and renovations to the existing HCI to house the Humboldt Public School.
"That's one of the next big projects in the community and we certainly welcome improvements," said Eaton.
Another huge positive for the city this year has been levels of growth and development.
"We continue to see near-record levels of growth and development in the construction side, both in residential and spread throughout the community," Eaton said.
There are a couple of private land developments under consideration, new residential projects either in the works or in the planning stages and there has been a lot of commercial and business interest in the city, said Eaton.
"A number of new businesses have opened in the community and we know there are a number of others that are in the works," said Eaton.
Not only is there a lot of natural growth happening in the community, council is looking forward to the growth that will come when the BHP Billiton Jansen mine opens.
"Certainly BHP Billiton Jansen is a new major mine project and that will have significant effects on our community," said Eaton.
The city is working very closely with BHP Billiton. "BHP has been very active with engaging and providing information to us," said Eaton.
If the mine opens, the city will have to consider growth in the areas of infrastructure, housing, labour, health, social services, and many other aspects.
"We anticipate that the decision to proceed with the Jansen project will officially be announced in the new year - in 2012 - and we are working to be prepared for the growth and development that will occur over the next five to 10 years," said Eaton.
Not only will they see growth from the BHP mine, but also from the PotashCorp Lanigan (PCS) mine that is also continuously growing and expanding.
"We always remember that PCS is an important part of our community as well," said Eaton. "There has been steady growth and development at the PCS site as well and we have many employees that live in our community and we have many businesses who do business with PCS."
Whether the BHP mine opens or not, council still anticipates growth in the community and is preparing for an influx of businesses and residents.
"We've been involved in quite a planning process over the last couple of years and it includes our strategic planning process," said Eaton. "If the mine proceeds, planning has to move to a new level."
They are spending a lot of time focusing on growth issues, which led council to the decision to hire a director of finance, and to review and make changes with human resources and administration.
The city is also working closely with Prairie Innovation Enterprise Region (PIER) to deal with many of the housing and labour issues that come with growth and council will use a lot of the information gathered by PIER to update their Official Community Plan.
"(This year), 2012, is going to be a year of bringing some of the planning work we have already to fruition in some areas and additional planning work (done)."
Infrastructure has been a focus of council and will remain one in 2012.
"We are continuing to plan and do projects to address these infrastructure issues that we've got," said Eaton.
They are looking at doing work on storm water projects, major water line replacements, sewer upgrades, street repairs, pavement renewals and other kinds of city infrastructure over the next few years.
To help them deal with these issues, the city sought help from different sources.
Council is very involved in Communities of Tomorrow, which is run out of the Innovation Centre at the University of Regina. This research project is concerned with trying to find more efficient and cost-effective ways of doing things in regards to infrastructure.
The other organization they are involved with is the National Asset Management System project (NAMS). The city is currently involved in one of four pilot projects in Saskatchewan.
"The kind of work we have been doing, we have been forging a number of partnerships," said Eaton. "We are working with other communities and cities."
Eaton explained that infrastructure "continues to be the major focus of council as it is for many communities across the country."
Community groups in the city have made a big impact on the city this year, as well.
"Council is looking at a bit of a master plan - a long-term future development of recreation and cultural facilities," said Eaton.
This could possibly include facilities like a multi-purpose field house, theatre, or a second ice surface, explained Eaton.
"Our arts community has come together - they have formed an organization, an arts council... and brought a number of the other groups together," said Eaton.
"We're looking forward to the contribution they are going to make in the coming years to helping the city advance and develop its facilities and programs in the cultural areas," he noted.
Eaton said a great example of the thriving cultural community is the work the Humboldt and District Museum and Gallery has been doing with projects like the Original Humboldt site and the Merchants Bank of Canada building on Main Street.
"These are pretty important projects for our downtown and for our community and it is really nice to see those going forward and receiving lots of support in the community," said Eaton.
Work on the JCI Humboldt Spray Park also finished this year and the facility will be open to the public in the spring of 2012.
"The Jaycees are just a tremendous group in the community and they are involved in a lot of things and support a lot of things," said Eaton. "I think that speaks to the energy and enthusiasm that there is in the community at that level - young families in our community are here and they are looking for these kinds of facilities and they are very actively involved in groups like the Jaycees."
On the other side, the Seniors' Hall provides the older crowd with great activities and information sessions.
"We are really impressed with some of the programs our local seniors centre is bringing to the community," said Eaton. "That is a very busy place...
"We are (also) very pleased to have such an active, vibrant Chamber of Commerce in our community," said Eaton.
Eaton also commented on the great service Family Services -- Partners Building Hope provide in the community.
The city is also seeing many activities and programs happening on the recreation or sports side of the spectrum.
Eaton said from council's perspective, as they looked back over the year, they saw lots of growth in many recreation clubs, such as the curling club and many other sports clubs.
"We have been meeting with many of these organizations over the year and talking about their plans and what they see for the future as part of our strategic planning process," said Eaton. "It's pretty exciting to hear what's going on out there in the community and the kind of energy and enthusiasm there is amongst these groups and organizations."
In 2012, the city is looking forward to hosting two major events: the Scotties Ladies' Provincial curling playdowns, which will be "an absolutely tremendous event," Eaton predicted, and the RBC Cup in May, which the Humboldt Broncos will be hosting.
"There is a huge number of volunteers and people working on these to certainly make this a first class event and I'm sure it will be," he said.
Eaton hopes the city will host more events like these.
"It is certainly part of what we see as a vision for our community that we see ourselves as an event and conference centre," said Eaton. "We are working hard to develop that vision and these are two just perfect examples of how important this is to our community. We are looking forward to future opportunities such as the seniors' games and even the possibility of hosting the Saskatchewan Summer Games at some point in the future."
