REDVERS — The Town of Redvers is off to a good start in fundraising for a replacement fire truck for the community. At the regular meeting of Town Council on April 24, CAO Tricia Pickard shared the news of two streams of funding, totalling $15,500.
The Enbridge Fueling Futures grant contributed $7,500, while the Redvers Wildlife Federation donated $8,000.
“The RM of Antler and the Town of Redvers have committed to purchasing, so we’d like to raise as much money as we can,” Pickard said.
She also noted the coming Lobster Fest on June 22 will see proceeds going towards a new fire truck.
“We’re going to be putting out some information to the public and talking about donations,” Pickard said. “It’s going to be something that we need here and we want to get ordered sooner than later. With the minimum standards changing, we need a new fire truck so that we meet those requirements.”
Part of aligning with the Fire Service Minimum Standards is ensuring a community has a fire truck that is within 20 years of age. Keeping in line with the relatively new standards will ensure the Redvers Fire Department can maintain its response status.
“We also know that the reality is we need a new fire truck,” Pickard said. “It doesn’t even need to be new, it has to be new enough to follow the minimum standards. The one we have now is okay until next year, that’s why we’re wanting to raise some funds now and then get that either ordered or purchased.”
Pickard confirmed that an appropriate replacement is being sought out, with some options in mind.
“We found a few fire trucks in the last year that are used, but we haven’t pulled the trigger yet,” she said.
The minimum standards also apply to firefighter training and equipment—items that also carry high dollar values. It’s not unheard of for a set of turn-out gear to run in the $3,000 range.
“Thankfully, our fire chief and deputy chiefs have been really good at maintaining those higher standards,” Pickard remarked. “We’ve always been a bit above so we’re not scrambling right now, whereas some of the other departments are going to be scrambling a little bit.”
Hometown History nominations closing this week
The call for nominations in the Hometown History project is ending this week. Kicked off by the Redvers Rockets Field of Dreams, who funded the replacement of the Pride of Redvers signs, the town is committing to budget for Hometown History annually.
“We do have one nomination so far, we’ve heard that there may be a couple more coming in,” Pickard confirmed.
There are two categories for nominations, Athletic Achievement and Community Impact, drawing from residents from Redvers or the RM of Antler.
“If anybody has a nomination, we encourage them to bring it in,” Pickard said. “Then our committee can look those over and choose a candidate for the sign or signs that will be put up this year.”
Nominations close April 30 and can be submitted at the Town Office.
Summer students hired
With a start date of May 6, summer students Minty James, Kalysa Richardson and Broden Reville will be putting in full-time hours through to the end of August.
“We are hiring three summer students this year,” Pickard noted. “Typically, we’ve had anywhere from one to three.
Two of those positions will be in maintenance and the third devoted to beautification, working with the newly-formed Communities in Bloom committee.
“They will be working with that committee and looking after our flowers, parks, perennials, and trees,” Pickard said, adding that having fresh ideas on the future of the town is important.
“There’s so many people in the community that have expertise and knowledge, so it’s joining the community together,” she said.
Maintenance duties will include grass cutting, back alley tree trimming, painting lines on roadways and changing out street signs, to name a few of the many tasks.
“I give a lot of recommendations and references for people that have been summer students,” Pickard remarked.
Farewell to junior councillor
Jasmine George will be bidding farewell to the council table, heading to Saskatoon for university this coming fall.
“Her last meeting will probably be in August,” Pickard explained. “She’s been a nice asset to our council table and we’re very happy and excited for her to be going to university in the fall. But we are definitely going to miss her!”
This leaves a vacancy as the town would like to continue having youth representation at their table.
“If we can find somebody right away, they could absolutely start in September, but I wouldn’t think they probably would get it organized until maybe January, but you never know,” Pickard said, pointing out that with this being an election year, a junior council member might not appear until the winter.
Strange activity at transfer station, water treatment plant
Recent suspicious activity has escalated from a break-in to placing the whole town on a water advisory.
Back in March, someone broke into the transfer station, making off with items and leaving a huge mess in their wake. On the morning of March 21, town staff discovered one of the red bins with the side doors open with garbage strewn everywhere including a mattress and open bags of garbage.
“We knew that somebody was out at our transfer station because there was garbage and everything all over and our bins were open,” confirmed Pickard.
While some may not view theft from the transfer station as a huge concern, Pickard explained there are ripple effects.
“The biggest thing is when people are out there, and they’re taking things, it’s from our steel bin,” she said, adding that the town receives a rebate for metals collected. “If those items are missing, that steel rebate doesn’t come, and it doesn’t lower our garbage rates.”
In response, the town installed cameras at the transfer station, and two weeks after the first event, discovered four people taking items in the early morning hours.
“We did make a report to the RCMP, and we put it out to the public, too,” Pickard said.
However, the strange occurrences were not limited to the transfer station.
“The same night, we suspected an unauthorized person in our water treatment plant, so we actually had to go to a ‘do not consume’ advisory for water security,” Pickard said.
When staff attended the water treatment plant that same morning, there was a strong chlorine smell with the same substance spraying from a compromised hose. Part of the clean-up process to rectify the situation included replacing 20 feet of hose.
As for the portion of hose compromised, it appeared to have been punctured with a sharp object similar to a utility knife.
By March 26, the ‘do not consume’ order was lifted by the Water Security Agency. This meant the distribution system was required to be flushed, the water treatment plant returned to producing water quality that achieved proper limits, chlorine residuals and turbidity through the plant and distribution system returned to regulatory requirements and bacteriological sampling returned to normal.
There are some leads in the instances, and the RCMP is investigating the break-ins. Anyone with information that could add to their effort can contact the Carlyle Detachment at 306-453-6707 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).
Back to one water source
Just as Well 5 went online, providing Redvers with two water sources, Well 4 has failed.
“We had two well sources for a little bit and then with the rehabilitation work on Well 4, we no longer have that well,” Pickard said. “So we’re down to one water source again.”
Well, 4 had an estimated lifespan of 25 years but actually served for a decade beyond that point.
“It could have failed at any time, it gave us 10 extra years,” Pickard noted, adding that the town relied on Well 4 over those 35 years of service. With Well 5 up and running, a similar lifespan (25 years) is expected, but the town is not planning to dig another source anytime soon. A second well may be considered in the five to eight-year range, but the current source is serving the community’s needs quite effectively.
No EV chargers . . . yet
The town received a letter from the Charged for Change evaluation committee with news that they would not be getting any EV chargers. Redvers had applied for electric vehicle chargers for the community, which would put the town on a broader map for not only EV drivers but extended tourism potential.
“We were disappointed in that but we’ll try again try again next year,” Pickard said optimistically.
