Melfort’s mayor reflects on 2017

For Melfort’s mayor, there’s one accomplishment from 2017 that sticks outs: the new Wellness Centre.

“It will be significant for people who require medical care in Melfort for years to come,” said Rick Lang. “It’s going to increase the level of service they’re going to get, it’s going to make it easier to recruit and retain physicians – which is always a challenge in a small community.”

The mayor said the new facility, which places doctor’s clinics and the hospital under one roof, will help reduce stress on the city’s doctors. He added that it wouldn’t have been possible if other communities surrounding Melfort hadn’t contributed to the new facility.

Second on Lang’s list: the work being done at Spruce Haven Park to build a new recreation complex. The skate park began in 2017 and will be finished in the spring. In 2018, work will begin on soccer fields, landscaping, washrooms and outdoor furnishings.

“It’s just the start of it, but when this complex is fully completed, there’s going to be something there for everybody,” Lang said, adding more work will be done as the city can afford it.

The Northern Lights Palace saw $125,000 in repairs and upgrades. The concession has been updated to handle more people, the lobby flooring has been replaced, the water slide has new stairs and the pool has a new filter.

A new hot-patching machine will help the city fix small potholes – and ensure they stay fixed longer.

“What you’re going to find is that the repairs we’re putting in place are going to stay in better,” Lang said.

A new fire chief, Paul See, has been hired and the city had to buy a new ladder truck as the one the city had failed inspection.

The mayor said all that was done despite some huge cutbacks in funding from the provincial government.

“That was done with a four per cent tax increase,” he said. “That fit in well with respect to what other cities were raising their taxes and the four per cent tax increase was done in spite of having to deal with a shortfall of $256,000 because of the provincial budget cuts.”

The cutbacks will continue to be a problem as the city will face the full brunt of them this year.

“On top of the $256,000 that we dealt with last year, we’re going to be dealing with another $150,000 shortfall with the grants that had previously been at a certain level and now they’re substantially less,” he said. “That’s going to be a definite challenge.”

Communication was marked as a major issue in the last civic election. Lang said his office is open to the public and councillors are willing to chat with anybody with concerns. The city is also working on a new website that should be easier to navigate.

As for construction, Lang said there were around $15 million in permits this year, one of the high years Melfort has had, as well as 19 housing starts, compared to 12 last year.