Council hears of newest Walk of Fame inductee

Weyburn City Council had a packed agenda Monday night, but many of the items on the agenda were rather routine. What did make waves amongst the councillors came at the end of the meeting, when it was unveiled who would be inducted into the Weyburn Walk of Fame this year.

“This year’s inductee is going to be Curt Minard,” said Councillor Laura Morrissette. “He is an accomplished athlete. He has represented Weyburn and the national and international levels, including the 2018 Paralympic games in Pyeongchang.”

The ceremony will be held June 17th, during the Car Show in downtown Weyburn, as the event has traditionally been held in recent years.

Curt Minard, who competed for Canada at the 2018 Paralympics in Pyeongchang, will be the 2023 inductee into the Weyburn Walk of Fame.

Morrissette was asked after the meeting about there only being one inductee this year, as in most years there are two inductees into the Walk of Fame.

“There were some really great applications put forward but the committee – two really great volunteers sit on that committee, and a couple of really good city staff – they sat down and looked at all the criteria and Curt just happened to fit those criteria the best,” she explained.

Other events during the meeting included the presentation of the planning and development department’s annual report. The number of permits approved last year was down from 2021, as was the total value of the permits. This was across all types of development – residential, industrial, mobile homes, commercial, institutional and municipal.

The report included details on the Commercial Incentive Program for 2022, which saw only two applications. One was approved while the other is still pending.

In 2022, there was only one permit approved for a new residential home, at a value of $1 million. There were also four new single-family units constructed during the year.

Panning and Development Officer Janine Fletcher was asked by City Councillor Ryan Janke about how the numbers for Weyburn stacked up against similarly sized communities. However, that information was not available at the meeting, and Fletcher noted they will look to include that information in future reports.

The councillors also approved the motion needed for the next step in tax arrears enforcement. The arrears report was presented at the last meeting, however, the motion was required to proceed with sending out 60-day notices to those who are in arrears.

The tender for a new chiller for the arenas was also approved. There was only one bid submitted, from Stevenson Industrial Refrigeration. While the bid was above the budgeted $200,000, coming in at $259,104, it was noted that the increase was due to inflationary costs. The bid was accepted by the council.

The discussion surrounding the arena chiller covered the condition of the existing chiller, which is at the end of its lifecycle. It was explained that the chiller is best replaced before there is a catastrophic failure of some sort.

The tender for tree pruning along boulevards in the city of city-owned trees was also approved. Budgeted at $30,000 the successful bid came from Green Drop Ltd, at a value of $28,050. The work is to be completed throughout the calendar year as they are able to get the work done.

A lease for SaskPower’s substation in the southwest corner of Jubilee Park was also approved. SaskPower had inquired about the lease as they had no record of I dating back to the initial construction of the substation in 1958. The City of Weyburn was unable to find the original lease either.

Council approved the new lease, with SaskPower paying $1 per year for the next nine years for the lease.

A report about the levels at Nickle Lake was also presented. The data showed that the levels of the lake, which is the source of raw water for Weyburn, were in better shape this year than at the same time last year. This was in part due to overflow conditions at the lake which existed well into the summer.

The meeting then ended with the announcement of Minard, and an update on the pool. The pool at the Weyburn Leisure Centre had been closed over the weekend due to maintenance issues. It was explained the hope is to have things back up and running by the coming weekend.