鈥淥verall 2015 can be chalked up as having been a very successful year,鈥� Kamsack Mayor Rod Gardner said in his annual beginning-of-the-year discussion when he reflected on the past year and looked forward to 2016.
鈥淎s I reflect over the town鈥檚 activities during 2015, all kinds of things come to mind that we can be proud of and also be thankful for,鈥� Gardner said before leaving on his winter vacation.
鈥淥ur air cadets took another exciting trip to Europe,鈥� he said. 鈥淐urling is making a comeback in Kamsack with more curlers than in recent years, partly due to our ice surface being greatly improved the past couple of years.
鈥淢inor hockey too has increased numbers this year.
鈥淥ur new medical centre opened in February and we continue to have a full slate of four physicians.
鈥淎gain we can be proud to carry the title of the Garden of Saskatchewan. We received literally dozens of compliments about the Trackside Gardens, the hanging pots along main street, and the overall appearance of our streets and yards,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his all shows that we are indeed proud of our community.
鈥淥n the government side of things, building permits remained strong in 2015, coming in at approximately $1.4 million.聽On the tax side, we narrowed the gap a little between commercial and residential taxes by lowering the mill rate factor on residential property by a quarter of a per cent.
鈥淔rom our original budget amount of $200,000 for paving and street repairs, we discovered a new process which works well for many asphalt repairs at a quarter the cost.聽 Only $125,000 of the $200,000聽budget was spent on this procedure,聽which effectively stretched our paving budget nearly fourfold.
鈥淎nother milestone for us was moving to curb-side pickup of garbage and items for recycling. Although we have just begun the process, and are still becoming聽totally familiar with it, it seems to be working well.聽With this conversion, we have dropped out of the Parkland Regional Waste Program.
鈥淥f course, the highlight might be having won first place in the Saskatchewan Municipal Awards program for the commitment to local health care by the building of a $2 million medical centre for our doctors to practice out of, without the help of any government funding or grants.
鈥淎fter scrutinizing a $4.2 million budget, we expect targets are going according to plan and we should end up with a surplus of approximately $155,000.
鈥淲e upgraded our front-end loader and grader during the year and will carry over $50,000 for a newer rescue truck for the fire department.鈥�
Asked what he could see on the horizon for 2016 and beyond, Gardner said that the community鈥檚 airstrip continues to deteriorate and will need major attention very soon.
鈥淲ith the new paving repair procedures, continuing to repair and upgrade streets is important,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here will begin to be some increasing costs to maintenance at the water treatment plant.鈥�
Gardner said the town office needs upgrading, which would include a re-design for windows, wheelchair access and for use of the old fire hall.
鈥淭hank you to all of our employees, our local volunteers and our local investors,鈥� Gardner said. 鈥淥n behalf of myself and council, it has been a pleasure to represent you as your local government again this past year.鈥�
