Weyburn’s new city council wants to look over the new fire agreements being signed with Rural Municipalities in the region, after receiving a proposal from the RM of Griffin to cover a quarter of the RM.
In their letter to the city, they indicated that Fillmore’s fire department will cover the northwest corner of the RM, and the Stoughton-Tecumseh Fire Department will handle the east half of the RM.
The RM’s request to Weyburn was to cover from Highway 13 south 10 miles and from 606 west to the RM of Weyburn boundary, and they offered to pay Weyburn $25,000 per year if the fire department agreed to cover this area.
Mayor Marcel Roy initially asked if the city could just extend the current agreement for six months while the new council figures out what the issues are.
Coun. Dick Michel gave some background about the agreements, noting that the former council wanted to tie the new fire agreements to the taxable assessments of the RMs. Going by this method, the RM of Griffin actually offered too much money, as going by the assessment, their bill would only be around $14,000, because the RM only wants city coverage for a quarter of the RM.
Fire Chief Simon Almond said this would be a change from the current agreement, which covered a bigger portion of the RM.
Mayor Roy suggested some RMs may want the chance to talk with the new city council. Some RMs didn’t like the terms of the new agreements and have gone to other municipalities for fire protection, such as with the Town of Yellow Grass fire department for the RMs of Scott and Wellington.
The council members wanted to have some discussions about this issue at their council retreat coming up later in November.
The Leisure Services Commission got approval for a new compressor for Crescent Point Place and the Tom Zandee Sports Arena, after one of the current compressors had an ammonia leak.
According to a report from Mathew Warren, director of Leisure Services, along with information from facilities supervisor Greg Button, council was told the current system has a capacity of 142 tons of refrigeration, but if any further breakdowns occur, the comfort of spectators may not be maintained in order to maintain the ice surfaces.
The options put forward were to either rebuild the current compressor, which has 52 tons of refrigeration, at a cost of $22,078 plus GST, or to replace it with a bigger compressor with 87 tons of refrigeration, worth $67,769 plus GST. Council agreed with replacing the compressor, and it will be installed in early January 2017.
The new committee assignments were announced by Mayor Roy at the council meeting.
For the Police Commission, the members will be Coun. Mel Van Betuw and Winston Bailey, and Mayor Roy. The council rep for the Southeast Regional Library and the Weyburn Public Library will be Coun. Jeff Chessall, who will also now be on the Parks Board.
On Economic Development will be Mayor Roy, and councillors Jeff Richards and Brad Wheeler, and Coun. Dick Michel remains on the Airport board.
Coun. Richards will be the rep on the Tourism board, the Chamber of Commerce and REDA, and will be on the District Planning Commission along with Coun. Michel.
The Leisure Services Commission will have councillors Michel, Wheeler and Bailey, with Wheeler on the Environmental Resources committee, and he will also be on the Facilities Committee with Coun. Van Betuw.
Coun. Chessall will be on the Nickle Lake board, and the employee relations committee will have Van Betuw and Wheeler. The city reps to the Upper Souris Watershed Association will be city engineer Sean Abram and Mayor Roy, and the mayor will represent the city on the Oil Show Board, and on the highway twinning committee along with Abram.
Coun. Bailey will be on the Ag Society board, Coun. Chessall will be on ASUPCA, Coun. Richards will be on the doctor recruitment committee and Coun. Michel will be on the Cugnet Centre joint-use committee.
