By Greg Nikkel
The cut of funding for urban parks, including Weyburn’s Tatagwa Parkway system, left the Parks board chair “dumbfounded” when she heard it announced in the provincial budget recently, and said parks are part of the quality of life for the community.
Coun. Nancy Styles is also the chair of the Association of Saskatchewan Urban Parks and Conservation Agencies (ASUPCA), and noted this budget cut also removed funding for four other urban park systems in the province.
“I was dumbfounded when I heard that. I guess in my heart that would be the very last thing they should cut. It’s a place everybody can go whether you’re rich or poor, young or old,” said Coun. Styles.
For the City’s Tatagwa Parkway system, they were receiving a matching grant of $46,000 a year to help with the maintenance of the park system.
“We’ve done so many things with the money we’ve gotten. It’s part of the city’s quality of life,” she said.
In commenting on the budget cut, MLA Dustin Duncan noted that Weyburn received an increase to their revenue-sharing grant which was more than the amount cut from parks, but Coun. Styles said this is badly needed within the city for infrastructure needs.
“I don’t know of any municipality that isn’t having to take care of infrastructure deficiencies,” said the councillor.
She noted she volunteered at the Weyburn Opportunity Road Race on Sunday morning, which ironically was a fundraiser for the Tatagwa Parkway system, and said she saw people of all ages taking part and enjoying the parkway paths as they walked or ran in the event, including parents who jogged while pushing strollers. They wouldn’t have been able to do that if the paths were gravel, she pointed out.
The paving of the paths in the city’s northeast area cost the city $70,000 this year, said Coun. Styles, plus the cut hurt as the city’s budget was already set when this cut was announced by the province.
Asked what the city will do as the cuts are apparently permanent, Coun. Styles said she will bring this issue to the city council’s next retreat to figure out how they will be able to fund maintenance and improvements to the parkway.
Residents of the city will get a chance to celebrate and enjoy the parks on Trails Day on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 19, from 1 to 3 p.m. at River Park. There will be Ukrainian dancers, entertainment by the STARS Show Choir, free hot dogs, horse-drawn wagon rides, and Art in the Park activities.
A tender for accessible playground equipment for the Elks Park playground on Douglas Road was approved in the amount of $150,000.
The vote was 5-2 in favour, with Mayor Debra Button and Coun. Dick Michel against. The mayor said she couldn’t support this tender as it will not include a swing apparatus, which would add another $15,000 to the price tag. The city had budgeted $150,000 for the equipment.
The winning tender was awarded to Prairie Playscapes, who will construct an accessible playground with rubber surfacing, 12 interactive panels and 23 other elements in the structure which will be totally accessible for any child.
A total of six bids from five companies was received. This will replace the playground equipment which was damaged by an arson fire in 2012.
There were 10 building permits for new construction in May, worth a total of $184,500, including four permits for new commercial developments with a combined value of $135,000.
The building permits also included two permits for residential decks with a value of $5,500, two residential detached garages with a value of $34,000, and two permits for residential alterations with a value of $10,000.
Year-to-date, the City’s Building Department has issued 24 building permits worth a total of $3,375,100.
This compares to a year ago when the city had issued 22 permits as of the end of May worth $5,995,350.
The commercial developments include restaurant development on Railway Avenue, an ice cream shop at the corner of Government Road and First Avenue, and a Starbucks outlet at the Pharmasave store.
Council approved a tender for a lagoon aerator for the city’s primary lagoon, in spite of a warning that there will be strong odours arising when the aeration begins.
As city engineer Sean Abram explained, these lagoons were built in the early 1950s and had an operating depth of 1.5 metres or five feet, with no records to show whether the lagoons have ever received a complete cleaning to remove sludge buildup.
This aerator will cost the city $127,995 from Norwood Waterworks.
The alternative, said Abram, is a complete mechanical removal of the sludge to the tune of $4 million.
“There will be a significant amount of odour released once we start aerating. This is a long-term project. It won’t be done overnight,” he said, estimating it may take around five years to completely aerate the lagoons, with an annual cost of $20-25,000.
The aerating will take from the spring until freeze-up, as Abram said he would be reluctant to leave the aerators in place over the winter.
The effects of the odour will depend “on Mother Nature and the wind direction. The first couple of years will be fairly odorificious. There is a signicant amount of sludge, and it’s been there for decades. It’s going to smell.”
“If there’s a very strong odour for six months, it makes me very nervous to approve this,” said Coun. Mel Van Betuw.
Abram said the city could try using large quantities of bacterial enzymes to try and counteract the smell.
“I can’t support this, knowing how much odour this is going to produce,” said Coun. Van Betuw.
Abram noted the alternative will cost around $4 million to have the sludge removed from the lagoon. He was hoping this aerator might be a more cost efficient way to deal with the matter.
“To me, that makes sense,” said Coun. Rob Stephanson, adding, “If it’s unbearable, we’ll look at something else. This is a way to address the problem that needs addressing.”
He said if the city goes through a summer and finds the smells are unmanageable, they may then have to find the $4 million to get the sludge mechanically removed.
“I just hope we’re prepared to have a solution to alleviate some of the odours,” said Coun. Van Betuw.
Council passed a bylaw to allow mail-in ballots for the first time, for the municipal elections to be held on Wednesday, Oct. 26.
Mail-in ballots were only used in larger cities in the 2012 election when they were introduced in the province, and now Weyburn will make this option available for those who won’t be here on election day, or for advance polls, said returning officer Donette Richter.
For those who wish to use a mail-in ballot, there are strict guidelines for its use to ensure that each person only gets one vote. A declaration of the voter’s information must be provided, and the forms will not be accepted until after Sept. 1.
Once a person is registered for this, the ballots will be mailed out after the nomination day which is one month before the election. There is a detailed process to follow for voters, which will be provided along with the ballots, and once the vote is made, the ballots will be kept sealed until election night, and will be counted at that time.
The City will hold grand openings for both the new water spray park in River Park and the new paddling pool.
The new spray park will be opened on Saturday, June 25 at noon in River Park, and the new Young Fellows Paddling Pool will be opened on Canada Day, July 1 at noon.
The Young Fellows have committed to funding of $125,000 for the new paddling pool, which will be named in their honour, and it will include a zero beach entry, wall sprays in the main pool area and a small retaining wall for the toddlers area.
This replaces the old paddling pool which was opened in 1986 at the Don Mitchell Tot Lot.
The new spray park will feature a large dump bucket, multiple spray elements and ground sprayers.
