Town council was full of surprises Tuesday, with only four councillors, no Mayor Chris Odishaw, a gallery full of guests and one special, silent visitor.
Odishaw had announced that he would miss the meeting at the last town council meeting Feb. 23, so the meeting was headed by Derek Mahon, who kept it going at a brisk pace. Mahon, like some of the media in attendance, is a North Stars fan and hoped to catch their last regular season home game.
The town announced it would be purchasing 99 new compost bins, as they have only 17 left in stock, and the demand in the summer is likely to be great.
There was also cause for celebration for the Battlefords Community Players, as the theatre company, which has existed in its current form since 1952, finally found a home. BCP submitted a discretionary use application for the property at 102 - 26th Street, formerly the Battleford Grace Community Church, and received zoning approval for the property. The town had provided notice to properties within a 75 metre radius of the property by ordinary mail, but no verbal or written submissions were received prior to Feb. 3.
In their discretionary use application, the BCP described their use of the building as for a "meeting and rehearsal hall for a community theatre group, small performance space, storage and small rental space."
Donna Challis, executive producer with BCP, described the purchase of the building as "exciting," and "a big step." The building will be "a place we can call our own, store all our stuff, use as a rehearsal hall, a space to have an office, a space even to have small entertainment events."
The theatre company draws around 135 people every night at capacity at the WDM, their current performance venue, so the venue will not be used for their regular productions. The venue will instead be used for smaller events, perhaps for the theatre company's 422 season ticket holders.
BCP paid for the facility with money they raised over their history and money from ticket sales.
The Battleford Library also sent a letter to the town, as the library building is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2012. The library is having a contest to commemorate the event and hoped the town would contribute in some way. Patrons are invited to check out 100 items, which will entitle them to enter their name in the contest. Once a patron has taken out 25 items they will receive a prize.
The library board announced the contest in a letter to council, and council donated books as prizes.
Finally, Battlefords MLA Herb Cox was in attendance to watch the proceedings. Cox stated that he was not there for a specific purpose, merely to observe, and did not comment until the end of the brief council meeting.
"I guess I just would like to commend the council and the staff of this town for the great job that they're doing. We all read the stats on Martensville and Warman, but I still don't think they have the quality of life that we have here. We've got great things going on in this town and it has to do with the good work that this council does."
Cox went on to describe his inaugural speech in the legislature, which compared Battleford, the former capital of the Northwest Territory, to Regina, and described the day that Government House burned down as "the saddest day that ever happened in Battleford."
