ESTERHAZY — Resident Merv Cushman appeared as a delegation during last week’s regular meeting of Esterhazy town council seeking reparation for damages to a fence on his property.
The situation arose from an incident over a year ago when a summer storm downed tree branches, causing damage to a portion of the wood fence surrounding his backyard.
“I was here almost exactly one year ago on the same problem,” Cushman began during his address to council on Aug. 21.
“At that time, they sent a crew out of three people, and I got a letter back saying, ‘due to the condition of the fence, as well as the light standard, the previous tree cut down in the backyard at the residence, the town does not see significant proof that they are responsible for minor damage at your residence.’”
Photos were made available to members of council showing part of the tree in question through the fence.
“Another one was at the other end of the fence; it had broken the crossbar and also one of the uprights,” Cushman said. “Two of the posts were broken, the rest of the fence is fine. Also, regarding the light, you can see the tree destroyed the light. The light was perfectly fine before that.”
Cushman also noted that he had sought legal advice from a lawyer, who advised taking the matter to small claims court for resolution.
“I don’t see how you can say that you’re not responsible. It’s your tree,” Cushman said. “Now they’ve cut them down to stumps because they were old and rotten. I advised the town council prior to that, too, that these trees — the ones behind my place — were bad, they had dead parts on them, and they were going to crash. Nothing was done. Then we get a storm and it wrecks my property.”
The house has since been sold, with Cushman claiming to have taken a reduction in the sale price due to the damage caused.
When asked by Councillor Nicole Kripki about the amount of the reduction, Cushman replied the buyers lowered their offer by about $5,000.
Councillor Kripki also asked about the age of the fence, which Cushman estimated to be at least 15 years, as it had been on the property when he purchased the house at that time.
The area where the fence repair took place due to the tree branch impact still needs to be stained, a detail Cushman said homebuyers noticed during a walkthrough.
“When someone comes to look at a property and they see things like that, they have that in their mind that they’re going to have to fix that,” he said. “The other thing I was really disappointed, too, is when this happened, I came to the town and I said, ‘Can you come and clean up your tree?’ They said, ‘No, we can’t go on private property.’ I don’t think it’s correct, so I had to end up cleaning it up myself. That’s not fair, either. The town has crews that can go on property if there’s damage.”
As the delegation closed, Mayor Randy Bot told Cushman that council would revisit the issue.
“I’m going to give them a chance to talk about this later, and we’ll get you an answer early next week,” Mayor Bot said.
The matter will require more research from town staff, as it is not totally clear if the trees on the property are the responsibility of the town, as it is a SaskPower easement.
Back on Aug. 21, 2024, Cushman had also appeared as a delegation before the town shortly after the incident occurred. A decision was not made at that meeting as the matter required further investigation.
New flooring in arena kitchen
The town received a quote for new flooring in the kitchen at the Dana Antal Arena, coming in at $4,831.93. Community Development and Recreation Director Michelle Fuhr noted that the flooring has been installed in other facilities in the region.
“This is the same flooring that’s used in Whitewood’s arena in their kitchen, and it’s very nice,” she said, adding that the quote includes baseboards and labour.
The flooring was an item in the town’s budget, and council approved the quote.
Ammonia sensor purchase
The ammonia sensor at the arena was next on the list, with a request to purchase a new one. An inspection at the facility determined the previous ammonia sensor was outdated and required replacement.
“They’d never seen one as old as ours,” Fuhr said.
Council approved the purchase of a new ammonia sensor from Stevenson Industrial Refrigeration for $10,867.53.
Request to waive hall fees
A request came from Sharon Prazma to waive the hall rental fee for an event targeted toward residents of Sumner Place and Daisy Hill Manor.
Councillor Bryant Campbell removed himself from the meeting during this portion, citing a conflict of interest.
“Last year, they had entertainment and meals; they had all of the Daisy Hill and Sumner Place residents come enjoy the day,” Fuhr told council. “The only thing that’s going on in the hall that day is Service Canada is in the meeting room, but it won’t disturb them at all.”
Other options before council would be to charge a fee for use of the hall.
“They do fundraise for this event, and that fundraising does go towards purchasing games and having entertainment,” Fuhr explained.
Discussion followed, weighing whether or not to charge a fee for use, given that council has begun the practice of charging a reduced fee to groups that had benefited from free use of the hall in the past.
“I’m kind of with Dana (Paidel, Councillor) on this one,” said Councillor William Gale when asked for his opinion. “If we do one thing for one group, we shouldn’t then do the opposite for another group. We should keep it on a level playing field for all the groups that would request.”
Mayor Bot presented the opposite view, favouring the request to waive the fee.
“I feel like it’s not very often that our seniors ask us for something,” he said. “Any chance that I see to help our senior community out, and if the hall’s not being used that day, this is an opportunity to give back.”
Ultimately, Councillor Paidel made a motion to charge a reduced fee of $100 for the use of the SN Boreen Hall, which was passed by council.
Pickleball funding request
A request to help fund a new pickleball court came before council, with some options included for consideration.
“The pickleball committee has contacted us; they received a grant from Mosaic for $50,000 to redo the old tennis court into a pickleball court,” Fuhr explained. “They are asking if the town would donate funds to maximize that donation. I believe their drawing outline of it is going to cost around $95,000 for the whole project.”
One option would be to donate the remainder of the funds needed, or to match Mosaic’s contribution and become a partner with them in funding the project.
“Another option, we donate to the committee out of the capital budget of the basketball court, because we do have that money allocated for it, and then we could maybe see if this company would come back and proceed with that project as well,” Fuhr said, adding a further option would be to donate a portion to the pickleball committee and recommend they fundraise to find other sponsorship opportunities.
Ultimately, council approved a donation of $45,000 for the committee to build the pickleball court.
Landfill contract
Council approved a motion to enter into a six-month contract with Duncan Construction to provide packing and covering services at the Esterhazy Landfill.
Support for recovery centre
In a letter from the Southeast Recovery Centre, the Moosomin group was seeking support from municipalities around the southeast. The group has been trying for the past few years to establish a recovery centre in Moosomin to help people navigate through addiction.
Council approved the request for a symbolic show of support.
Highway crack sealing
After considering two quotes for crack sealing on Highway 22, council decided to approve Canadian Paving Services for a total of $66,600.
