In a regular year the Municipalities of Saskatchewan convention is a big in-person event hosted in Regina or Saskatoon. With the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, it was virtual this year.
Esterhazy Mayor Grant Forster, Acting Administrator Mike Thorley, and Planning and Economic Development Director Tammy MacDonald attended the three and a half day virtual event with councillors popping in when they had the time.
“It was about three and a half days and it was a good experience,” said Thorley. “There were some excellent keynote speakers that gave us insights on what we need to do going forward as small communities. It was different because it was virtual so you miss out on the camaraderie and running into other people from different communities, but it was good. Normally the split it between Regina and Saskatoon—this year it was supposed to be in Saskatoon—and because of Covid they made the decision to go totally virtual. It 95 per cent worked because we were sitting in our offices or at home to watch it and you still saw the presenters and you got to do everything that was necessary. They even had the trade show booths, and you could talk to them directly. The best part about it was that we didn’t have to travel in -30 weather to Saskatoon! It saves money too, we’re finding with Covid we’re saving money because everything is remote—we’ve probably saved ourselves anywhere from $8,000 to $10,000 by not attending the convention, that money goes a long way in a municipal government.”
Forster mentioned in one of his sessions with Minister Don McMorris—the minister of government relations—that there was confirmation that the Municipal Economic Enhancement Program (MEEP) will not be continuing in 2021.
“Someone asked Minister McMorris if MEEP would continue and he flat-out said no,” said Forster.
MEEP provided municipalities across the province funding in 2020 to support investments in infrastructure to stimulate economic recovery and encourage local job creation.
Sale of industrial land
The council passed a motion for the sale of seven acres of industrial land to Esterhazy’s Commercial Sandblasting & Painting for $14,000.
“We subdivided an area of land per a request from 2015,” said Acting Administrator Mike Thorley. “This piece of land was asked to be purchased in November 2015, and the inquiry came back in 2018.
“We had to go through the process with the industrial land to re-zone it and after it’s all said and done, we’ve re-zoned it and done all this work to it—we had to do some work on it through environment because it’s close to a lagoon and we weren’t sure if they could use it.
“So we had to do some work for it and so it’s only seven acres of land and they offered $14,000 for it. They can’t build on the piece of land because it’s contaminated land, so they can only use it to lay down materials.”
James Street parking
In recent weeks there have been concerns from a resident about parking on the bay of James Street. After looking into it, the council shares the same concerns with parking on both sides of the street creating little room for vehicles to drive through.
“We’re going to review and I’ll present to council at the next meeting an updated by-law for James Bay,” said Acting Administrator Mike Thorley. “People are parking on both sides and it’s not safe and not leaving accessibility for vehicles to go through easily. It’s in an area that’s close to our home care and there’s some problems with it. We were asked by a resident to look at it so I will present the by-law to the council at the next meeting so we can update it with no parking in that area.”
The biggest problem with the limited space on James Street is if there were an emergency and the street was congested with parking, it’s likely an ambulance or fire truck wouldn’t fit through.
“That’s the scary part about it,” said Thorley. “When I went over there the other day to get some pictures—there were three or fours parked there—and if there was a need for an ambulance or there were a fire, they wouldn’t be able to go through there. It’s a tiny little bay that was put together 10 or 12 years ago and they never took into consideration the space required there.”
Landfill pole shed door tender
The council passed a motion to accept a tender from Vince Pisak for $3,296 to have a door put on the newly built pole shed at the landfill. Pisak was the contractor who built the pole shed at the landfill earlier this year.
The pole shed was an idea brought to council by Councillor Vern Petracek to help keep the compactor at the landfill in good condition through the winter.
Cleanfarms program
With the council hoping to become part of the Cleanfarms program—a program focused on the collection and recycling of grain bags from farmers—they’re looking into bidding on equipment. Councillor Vern Petracek says the option to bid on the needed equipment rather than buying new equipment would save the town money.
“We actually applied to be a Cleanfarms area representative because the Esterhazy area doesn’t have one,” said Acting Administrator Mike Thorley. “We want to be a part of the Cleanfarms group at our local landfill so we can take the grain bags from the farming area. We should hear from them in the next couple days if we’ve been accepted.
“In turn, we need specific equipment to roll up the grain bags and it basically puts them into big spools to be taken away to be recycled. We’re looking at bidding on that and if we get it we’ll finalize if we’re going to be a representative for the area.”
