Estevan city council has approved the purchase of property next to the Estevan Police Service’s building.
The City of Estevan will pay $235,000 to own the land at 1025 Third Street. Deputy Mayor Lori Carr, who chaired the meeting since Mayor Roy Ludwig was on vacation, said it could be a beneficial purchase for staff parking and equipment storage.
Councillor Kevin Smith said the opportunity arose just recently. He believes the land could be needed for an expansion of the police building, especially if regional policing initiatives occur in the future.
The purchase wasn’t included in the 2015 budget. But city treasurer/acting city manager Jeff Ward said they are projecting a cash balance, and some capital projects were not finished, including upgrades to the waste water treatment plant.
A chance like this likely won’t come up again soon, Carr said.
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Council tabled a request from the Southeast and Northwest Chorus groups for their 45th annual celebration of Christmas music next month. Council will discuss the matter again next month during budget deliberations. They said earlier this year they might stop sponsoring community events with taxpayer dollars.
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The Southeast Regional Library will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. There will be celebratory barbecues at each of their 47 branches over the course of the year. Branches may host the festivities in conjunction with other events.
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Council approved the purchase of a loader-mounted snowblower from Industrial Machines in Acheson, Alberta, for $133,056. The city currently has an RPM Tech snowblower exactly like the Industrial Machines unit, and the city would like to have two identical machines.
The city currently has about $10,000 worth of spare parts for the RPM Tech unit that would fit the new unit as well.
The new snowblower is expected to be delivered in 35 to 40 days. There was a tender that came in a few thousand dollars lower than Industrial Machines’ bid, but it would not be available for 120 days.
Councillor Trevor Knibbs initially suggested tabling the tender, as he wanted more information on servicing before making a final decision. Knibbs had concerns on what would happen if the machine broke down. But he eventually agreed the city should move forward with the purchase.
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Five building permits worth more than $1.41 million were issued in October, bringing the total for 2015 to 68 permits worth more than $10.66 million. The numbers continue to lag behind last year, when 97 permits worth about $32.2 million were approved in the first 10 months.
