By Greg Nikkel
Weyburn’s city council heard preliminary numbers from a poll taken on-line about speed limits, and has directed the polling to continue, with an effort to be made to reach those who are not on social media or the Internet.
The city’s director of communications, Amber Wiggins, made two polls on the city’s social media, plus on the city’s website, and provided the responses so far, which seem to favour an increased speed limit generally to 50 km an hour, and for school zone speeds to be time-restricted.
The first post on Facebook reached 4,902 people was on the city-wide speed limit, whether it should be 50 km an hour or stay at 40 km/hr. A total of 807 votes were cast as of Monday morning, with 617 in favour of changing the speed limit to 50 km/hr, and 190 were in favour of leaving it as it is.
The question on school zone speed limits gave three options: leaving it at 30 km/hr, putting it back to 40 km/hr or having 30 km/hr in school zones with a time restriction, such as 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
This post reached 7,267 people, and there were 743 votes cast with 520 in favour of 30 km/hr with time restrictions, 160 in favour of 40 km/hr, and 63 votes for leaving it as it is.
The survey on the city website had much less response, with 63 voting on the city-wide speed limit, 43 in favour of a 50 km/hr limit, and 20 in favour of 40 km/hr. On the issue of the school zone limit, 64 people voted, and 32 were in favour of 30 km with time restrictions, 27 were in favour of 40 km and five for leaving it as it is.
Coun. Mel Van Betuw asked if there was a way to reach those people who are not on Facebook or the Internet, and city manager Roy Hardy indicated the administration will look into other methods of polling residents.
The student representative on council, Louise Pascua, pointed out that students should have some input on school zone speed limits, and noted most teenagers are not on Facebook but on other social media platforms.
“Students who may be affected by this, may not have had a vote,” she said, adding she didn’t even hear about the poll, but would have liked to vote on it.
Mayor Marcel Roy said this was partly why the council wanted to have a youth member sitting in on the meetings, in order to provide input on issues like this.
“I would encourage residents to take the survey, because if affects everybody in the community,” said Coun. Mel Van Betuw.
Hardy said the poll will remain available for a while yet, on the website and Facebook, and for those not on the Internet, they can call City Hall or talk to their councillor to pass along their views on speed limits.
The city’s water supply may be a big issue this year, council heard as they were updated on the watermain break on Friday which flooded Railway Avenue between Eighth and 11th Streets.
Hardy said there was a significant loss of water in a short time with a break in a six-inch water line until the staff were able to cut the water off.
There was then a lot of work by city staff to fix the break and clean up the water and ice, he said, with staff putting in about 20 hours of labour to make the repairs.
The work by the city staff “demonstrates a commitment to the city. While we do have a push and pull with labour at times, this shows a tenacity of the staff to keep the city working well and to make sure we had potable water back as quickly as we could,” said Hardy.
The discussions on water issues expanded later in the meeting as Mayor Roy pointed out there are municipalities and farms in Weyburn’s vicinity that may be turning to Weyburn for their water supply this year if it stays really dry.
“We know we have about three years supply of water when Nickle Lake is full, and right now we’re down to about two years supply. We may have to think of water restrictions,” he said.
A number of questions need to answered for the city, said the mayor, including the rate of consumption, and the cost to supply water at the pump station beside the Humane Society animal shelter.
“If we have to start restricting water, how do we go about it?” he asked.
City engineer Nader Keshta said they will be monitoring water consumption in the city to see if it is an issue comparative to the water supply, and will provide the information on the cost of supplying water to those who truck it in.
City council decided on two tenders, one for a full-size SUV for the Fire Department to be used as a command vehicle, and the other for a new street sweeper.
The city received four bids for the SUV, two from local dealers and two from out of town. The bids from out of town were both dismissed as not meeting the specifications of the tender, and of the two from local dealers, the city went with the bid from Barber Motors in the amount of $47,168 for a 2018 Chevrolet Tahoe, over a Ford Expedition from Great Plains Ford for $57,943.
Coun. Van Betuw questioned fire chief Simon Almond about the need for the SUV, and he pointed out the 2010 Jeep they had previously used was totaled in a traffic accident, so they are in need of a vehicle for command purposes. The only other vehicle available is a half-ton that is used to haul equipment and personnel.
For a single-engine street sweeper, the recommendation was not to go with the low bid, but the second-lowest bid, from Fer-Marc Equipment of Regina in the amount of $248,101 for Elgin Pelican NP street sweeper, minus a trade-in of a 2001 street sweeper which was given a value of $15,000.
The low bid had come in from Raymax Equipment of Calgary in the amount of $221,434 for a Global M3 street sweeper. While it was a lower price, staff discovered that servicing would have to be done out of Calgary, as a service firm in Regina would not have trained personnel to fix this model of street sweeper. The other company, Fer-Marc, has a service shop in Regina that could be accessed in the event that servicing is required.
Meantime, the Fire Department was approved to sell a 2000 Freightliner pumper truck to the town of Delisle for $65,000, which chief Almond told council would be “found money” for the city as it was not budgeted for.
Coun. Van Betuw questioned why the city cannot use this truck any longer but Delisle can, and manager Hardy noted that there are insurance coverage implications for having any fire equipment on hand older than 15 years. If there is a community willing to take the risk of buying an older truck, they can do that, but Weyburn’s Fire Department is reluctant to continue using a truck that is 18 years old.
