The City of Prince Albert’s response to the Husky oil spill last summer has earned them a Saskatchewan Municipal Award.
The city was awarded First Place for its Oil Spill and Water Crisis Response. According to the news release from the Sask. Municipal Awards, their winning practice was activating an emergency operations centre in response to the oil spill that contaminated the source of their drinking water, the North Saskatchewan River.
Leading the administrative team in Prince Albert during the crisis was City Manager Jim Toye, who previously had served as city manager in North Battleford.
Unlike some other communities on the North Saskatchewan River such as North Battleford and Battleford, Prince Albert relied on the river water and did not have a ready source of well water at their disposal.
Second place went to the City of Humboldt for their Our Humboldt Strategic Framework. Third place was a tie between the RM of Blucher for their Highway 316 concept plan, as well as the Town of Kerrobert for their unmanned aerial vehicle/laser survey.
In the case of Kerrobert, they used drones and laser technology to create an asset and topographical map to develop their infrastructure upgrade master plan and drainage plan.
Finally, an award for regional co-operation went to Wallace Creek Watershed Association Board, made up of the RMs of Sliding Hills, Wallace, Calder, Saltcoats and Churchbridge, and the village of Rhein, whose winning practice was to form the association to manage water resources to reduce flood damage to agricultural land, and protect property and infrastructure.
