The meeting opened with a delegation from the Woodlawn Athletic Park Committee who updated council on their current plans and asked for their financial support.
Speaking on behalf of the group was Woodlawn Regional Park manager Nathan Puffalt. He noted the project is comprised of three stages and that the first stage - which they are already well into- will be to return the area to a functional space after it was devastated by the Souris River flood in 2011.
Puffalt said much of the clean-up has already taken place and that sod was laid in the fall. The buildings have also been sanitized and cleaned. He added most of the funding for the clean-up and sod is from their Provincial Disaster Assistance Plan settlement.
Phase 2 of the project involves making some improvements to the area. He said they would like to upgrade the lighting, parking area and grandstands and add a space for families.
Although Phase 1 is fully funded, Puffalt said they will need to begin raising funds for their next round of work. They currently have $60,000 from Estevan Minor Football and have grandstands from Mosaic Field that were awarded to EMF by the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
"We have a shortfall in funding of $126,000 for that phase," Puffalt said.
Phase 3 of their plan is also their most ambitious as the group would like to add a running track around the football/soccer field with a long term goal of hosting the Saskatchewan Summer Games.
Puffalt said the group has already begun fundraising and has applied for whatever grants are available to them. They are also requesting $25,000 in funding from the City. He noted $5,000 of that total would go to improve the fence around the field while another $5,000 would be used for the family/picnic area.
The remaining $15,000 would be for the lighting improvements. The group has found some used lights in Winnipeg which would be much better than the lights currently in place at the field.
Council passed Puffalt's report and the request for funds was referred to their ongoing budget deliberations.
The City has applied and been approved for provincial funding under the Encouraging Community Housing Options (ECHO) program.
The purpose of the fund is to provide a matching grant to fund a housing plan for Estevan. The Canadian Homebuilders Association will develop the plan.
The total cost of the plan is $39,501 and $19,000 of that will come from provincial funds.
The building permits report for November was rather underwhelming.
Just three permits were issued, which had a combined value of $140,000.
Through 11 months the City is at $26 million in permits which is well behind the $40 million at the same time last year.
At the Dec. 17 meeting, council approved the three people who have applied to be members of the council remuneration committee.
A new committee is struck after each election to review what should be paid to the members of council. Three members of the committee are: Dale Wetsch, Tim Perry and Shirley Thera.
Council voted unanimously to extend the City's overdraft limit to $11 million until July 31, 2013.
In his report, treasurer Tim Leson said the extension would allow time for lot sale revenue to be collected by the City. As well, the majority of taxes are paid in July.
The City currently has a total debt of just over $36 million and a $45 million debt ceiling.
