The Town of Churchbridge held a public meeting on April 8, 2021, to inform the ratepayers of what the council is operating. Mayor Johnston introduced the council and himself before handing the floor over to CAO Paridaen. Paridaen began by giving an update on the reverse osmosis (RO) project.
RO Update
The interior walls are framed in drywall. The ceiling is drywalled and the developers are starting to drywall on exterior walls. Blowing and insulation are complete and installation complete in the generator room. Protection boards were installed on the exterior grade beam. The opening for piping and access to the original plant is framed. My school mechanical has started running pipes from the existing plant into the new addition. Epoxy flooring was installed on the housekeeping pad and interior rooms and ECM expects to have equipment from Delco arriving next week.
April/May plans include:
The office and lab framing will be done, interior painting, millwork finishing, mechanical work - piping and pump installation, RO piping installed, lighting in the addition, well control building upgrades - well supply line, demolition and new concrete, metal clad and roof, mechanical and electrical work.
June 15th is the tentative commissioning date of the RO System.
Landfill Decommission
The town received a grant from the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program ( ICIP) for a total of $1,242,450. The federal government contribution is $496,980. The provincial contribution is $331,361. The municipality portion is $331,361. Tetra Tech is the company hired from Saskatoon to oversee the landfill decommissioning.
Cedar Development
The Town of Churchbridge received $128,781 from the Municipal Economic Enhancement Program grant (MEEP). Currently, the town has $993,755 in reserve and there was original $107,250 designated for a water looping that's been moved to the cedar development project. This leaves a shortfall of $193,310 that the town expects to get from lot sales and or paving through the general tax revenue; this is to develop 16 new lots in the northeast corner of Churchbridge to continue the Cedar Crescent loop and developing it.
2020 in review
The north part of the walking path was developed. A playground and new swings were installed in the campground. 10 new fire pits were bought and installed at the campground. Raikes Street was half paved and the arena Zamboni pad was paved. The new sidewalk just east of B&B Liquor and Variety heading east to the Timco Construction building was paved. A new town office door was installed and three windows were replaced with additional insulation added to these areas as there was no insulation there prior. A dropbox was added for after-hours drop-offs at the town office and the town purchased a second speed sign. The town upgraded the generator capacities at lift station 1 and at lift station 3; they upgraded the electrical at the main lift station, purchased new stalls and toilet seats for the women's and men's bathrooms at the town hall, replaced Lovel Street Rathgeber Avenue hydrant, street swept the whole town, purchased new boilers for the aquatic facility, began the cedar development project, purchase a rock wall for the aquatic center with $5,000 provided by the Churchbridge Credit Union and created a mural committee with $2,000 provided by Mosaic to repair and replace murals.
CAO Paridaen continued to inform the gathering that the assessments for ratepayers housing units have been done this year; this is required by legislation and it will give us the value of our property as of January 1, 2019. The evaluation occurs every 4 years in the province with the calculation of market values standards based on mass appraisal and estimates of market value typical market conditions and similar properties and quality standards. All properties in Churchbridge will receive an assessment notice and you can appeal it until April 19th, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. at the town office.
Next, the town administrator discussed taxation for Churchbridge. She explained how they came up with the base tax along with the mill rate and went through a couple of scenarios for taxation of the citizens of Churchbridge. She began by comparing us to Bredenbury, Esterhazy, Langenberg, Saltcoats and Whitewood to show that we were somewhat in the middle. Bredenbury’s mill rate is 4.0, Churchbridge right now is 7.5, Esterhazy is 6.5, Langenburg is 6.3, Saltcoats is 8.75 and Whitewood is at 10.5.
2021 Council Wish List
The council's wish list for 2021 includes upgrading the town website at a cost of 3,500. The town wants to start an economic storefront business grant of $5,000 and they would like to replace the sidewalk along Rankin Road and the trip hazards on the sidewalks at an approximate cost of $23,000. The town wants to do street sweeping again at a cost of $5,500, they want to gravel more of the back alleys, the alleys are in very poor shape at a cost of $31,000 for this they'd like to pave Lovel Street between Highway 16 and the railroad tracks and patching throughout town for approximately $70,000, they'd like to upgrade the murals for $7,000, they want to do a drainage study for Cedar Crescent Development project for $1,000 and the reservoir needs cleaning the $6,000. The light fixtures in the library need upgrading at a cost of $5,384. They want to purchase an additional 10 new fire pits for the campground at a cost of $4,000 and a four-way teeter-totter and swings for the Lovel Street park at a cost of $7,500. The town needs to replace a hydrant at Lovel Street and 1st Street which will cost $14,000 to replace. They would like a new computer for the town shop and a printer for $1,000, but they'd like to purchase an extra tripod for the lift station; this tripod is used to safely insert and take the man out of the manhole. The town would like to purchase new Christmas pole decorations to go in the power poles around uptown at a cost of $6,000, three windows and the insulation in the dining room and kitchen of the hall need to be replaced at a cost of $7,200 did like to make the hall wheelchair accessible adding buttons to the bathrooms and main door cost of $14,000, as well as the lights in the hall will be upgraded in the bathrooms, the main hall, the kitchen, the coatroom and the bar to LED lights at a cost of $8,700.
Next, the administrator discussed a couple of proposed scenarios for a tax increase for the Town of Churchbridge. The council will increase the base tax by $25 and the Mill Rate by .2; this will take the mill rate to 7.7 from 7.5 and the $25 increase to the base tax raises the base tax to $975 from $950.
The presentation slides that were shown at the public meeting can be found on the Town of Churchbridge FaceBook page.
