Mayor Roy Ludwig said that since the convention was in Regina, all members of city council, along with city manager Jeff Ward, were able to attend this year. The first-term councillors enjoyed the experience and learned a lot, he said, while the more experienced councillors enjoyed the networking opportunities.
“It was a good opportunity to meet the ministers that until then, a lot of us had just heard, and hadn’t been introduced to, hadn’t met,” said Ludwig.
Delegates were kept busy discussing issues relevant to running communities, voting on resolutions, attending workshops and going to meetings.
One of the most relevant topics was provincial funding. The city was informed the municipal operating grants from the provincial government will continue to be equivalent to one point of the provincial sales tax.
As for the grants in lieu of taxation, which was significantly reduced in last year’s budget, SUMA delegates will meet with provincial government representatives to discuss the issue. Most communities lost all of those grants last year; Estevan lost two-thirds of its grants.
“We couldn’t even get a promise, until we get these negotiations done, to hold the amount that we had last year,” said Ludwig.
The resolutions were discussed on Feb. 6. Ludwig said he was pleased to see a motion on removing the productive and non-productive call classifications removed for municipal fire departments. The issue will now be brought to Saskatchewan Government Insurance.
“You’re still out there with your people,” said Ludwig. “You’re guarding the roadways, you’re making it safe, so it’s actually all productive. Whether you’re using the Jaws of Life or not, it’s still our people putting themselves in danger, out on the road, doing the work.”
Delegates also approved a motion to have SUMA lobby the federal government to have non-renewable resources excluded from the federal equalization program, allowing Saskatchewan to keep more money generated by the energy sector and other industries.
It would be a response to other provinces, particularly Quebec, that stand in the way of getting natural resources to market.
He is also interested to see the results of a resolution on the true costs to repair or replace items vandalized or stolen. The offender would have to pay for the cost of the items stolen or damaged. Parents would be responsible for costs if the actions are carried out by a young offender.
Also passed was a motion to add more funding to the Urban Highway Connector program, and to allow the RCMP to close a road in the event of treacherous conditions.
“They are out on the highways and know the issues,” said Ludwig.
A few motions were rejected. Perhaps the most notable for local residents was one that called for door-to-door mail service to restored in communities where community mailboxes have been installed.
Estevan is among the communities that lost door-to-door mail service a few years ago.
“They didn’t want to spend more money going back on that,” said Ludwig.
The workshops this year were very good, he said. Council members attended some breakout sessions on such topics as waste standards, disaster preparedness, special events and effective meetings.
All members attended a session on the upcoming legalization of marijuana and the impacts on municipalities.
The convention wrapped up with council members attending question-and-answer sessions with the various provincial ministers.
