By Greg Nikkel
The RM of Griffin accepted the terms for a new fire agreement with the City of Weyburn, after Reeve Stacey Lund paid a visit to city council at their Nov. 28 meeting.
The RM wanted the terms clarified, and to make sure the Weyburn Fire Department would be agreeable to cover the southwestern corner of the RM, which is about 25 per cent of the municipality. The fire departments in Fillmore and Stoughton will cover the rest of the RM.
Part of Reeve Lund’s concern was that the city was wanting the RMs to pay about $260,000 of the Weyburn Fire Department’s budget, and after McTaggart and the RMs of Wellington and Brokenshell signed on with Yellow Grass instead, the fear was that this bill would just be split between themselves and the RM of Weyburn.
The City explained they were not asking Griffin to take on that much cost, but are using a formula based on the taxable assessment of the RM.
The RM originally offered to pay $25,000 for the fire coverage, but when the City used the formula they are applying towards fire protection, their bill will actually only be about $14,500.
Reeve Lund said this would be acceptable, and when asked, he indicated they would be willing to sign on for a three-year period. The area to be covered goes from Highway 13 south 10 miles, and from 606 west to the RM of Weyburn boundary.
The City of Weyburn issued seven building permits in the month of October, with a total value of $1,537,000.
Broken down, the permits include one for commercial alterations for a new business, with a value of $1,400,500, for the new Giant Tiger retail outlet in the mall.
There was one permit for a residential addition with a value of $110,000, one permit to create a new residential suite with a value of $15,000, and four permits for residential decks with a total construction value of $12,500.
This brings the year-to-date to 65 building permits with a total construction value of $6,444,100 for 2016. This compares to a year ago when the city had issued 80 permits with a total construction value of $10,469,650.
A resident of Gordon Miles Place contacted the City of Weyburn with a complaint about the proximity of the newly-approved outdoor rink to his property, concerned about possible damages with the rink basically right up against his back yard.
In a letter to the city, Dimitri Louvish said he originally signed the petition in support of the outdoor rink, because he was led to believe the location would be on the other side of the playground-open space area, which would not have impacted on any residential properties in the area.
Now, with the rink up against the entire length of his back yard, he feels the rink is “disproportionately affecting one house household in the neighbourhood,” and sent photos to show just how close the rink was.
Besides the danger of flying pucks to his fence and house windows, he’s also concerned about the noise and lights if people are out on the rink until the permitted time of 11 p.m., as per the agreement with the city.
Coun. Jeff Chessall said he was talking to the people involved, including with the rink, and noted that the resident wanted the rink to be open no later than 7 p.m., while originally it was proposed to be open until 9:30 p.m. A net is supposed to be in place around that side of the rink to prevent any flying pucks from causing any damage to his house or fence, and Coun. Chessall said he would check to ensure the net is in place, and he will talk to all of the parties about the hours of operating the rink, as council felt the 9:30 p.m. curfew would be more reasonable than at 7 p.m.
Council approved a request from RD Family Funeral Chapel to build a new columbarium at Hillcrest Cemetery, as the current columbarium is nearly filled to capacity, operated under an agreement with Fletcher’s Funeral Chapel.
RD is proposing to build a 48 or 64-niche columbarium in the spring of 2017, and they will be responsible for all costs, including the unit purchase, installation and concrete foundation. In return, the city will receive 35 per cent of the fees for a niche, to cover any maintenance costs on the part of the city, plus the city will retain the open and close fees for interments.
The current layout of Hillcrest allows for the establishment of three more columbarium units in proximity to the existing unit. No problems arose with the Fletcher’s agreement when they installed their columbarium in 1997.
