In his regular report, city manager Jim Puffalt made note of the fact the City reached a milestone in terms of road reconstruction.
Puffalt noted the City has reconstructed 100 blocks since 2005 which he noted is roughly 80 kilometres of roads and 15 per cent of the streets in Estevan. He expects the City will be over 20 per cent by the end of the construction season.
Along with Councillor Chris Istace, Puffalt also asked the residents of Estevan to be patient as they continue work on rebuilding Estevan's infrastructure. Both men said the City is doing the best it can with the resources it has but continues to face a challenge as there was little to no work done for a number of years before the City began its reconstruction program.
"I think the City does it the best it can with what we have," Istace said during the meeting.
Puffalt added that construction on the Souris Valley Aquatic and Leisure Centre parking lot was expected to begin on Monday.
According to signage in the SVALC displayed over the weekend, the parking lot of the ICON Centre (the former Lignite Miners Centre) would be the first area to be paved.
The City is also currently reconstructing Duncan Road and has begun work on Alexandria Avenue to King Street.
Council passed a pair of policies regarding its employees at the meeting.
One policy is a confidentiality agreement which will govern City staff members who handle sensitive information and documents.
The second was an etiquette and customer service policy which touches on how employees are to deal with customers and any complaints they might have. The policy includes how the City expects employees to deal with customers over the phone as well as face to face.
The Estevan Fire Rescue Service report for April was included in the council package after it was missed during an earlier meeting.
The report noted that local firefighters responded to five fires in April as well as five false alarms.
A 2012-2013 leisure services rate increase proposal was introduced at the meeting.
During the discussion of the report, it was noted that leisure services continues to be one of the biggest expenses for the City.
The report says the overall cost recovery rate was 33.50 per cent in the past year.
Among the increases proposed is a five per cent hike for soccer and baseball. The rates for Spectra Place could also rise by 10 per cent to help offset labour costs associated with events and activities.
A final decision on the proposal was delayed after Istace raised concerns about some of the numbers in the report from events manager Garth Forster. It was expected a vote would be held at the July 30 meeting of council.
First reading was given to a development permit application for a 12-unit residential project on the 700 block of Fifth Street.
According to the proposal, developers are looking to demolish the existing commercial/industrial building on the site and construct three separate four unit residential condominium buildings.
