NORTH BATTLEFORD - The City of North Battleford will give an update on current and planned city affairs in its State of the City Address coming up this month.
The luncheon event will be held at the Dekker Centre on March 12. Tickets are available .
"It's the first opportunity on behalf of a new council. So, really it's going to be about setting the direction for where we're hoping to go over this council term, and that of course will be led by Mayor [Kelli] Hawtin," said Candace Toma, the City's Public and Intergovernmental Relations coordinator.
She added the presentation will also include some reflections of highlights from the past year.
Toma noted since Hawtin has been on council since 2014, she possesses a broad knowledge of the city's progress and successes over the years.
"This council follows the direction of what council before has done," Toma said. "We are looking to build upon what we have conquered, and what we're looking to conquer."
On behalf of council, the mayor will also discuss the various initiatives that council is looking to address for its current term, over the next four years.
Some of the areas Hawtin will look at include economic development.
Toma said the mayor will talk about the city's focus to be more friendly for business and development.
She said the city is looking at some feedback it's heard over the past couple of years from respective current business owners, community members, and prospective investors or developers "looking to invest in our communities."
"We're looking at amending, for example, the Zoning Bylaw and opening up our Official Community Plan to ensure that we're meeting the needs of businesses and really serving to be flexible in terms of how we can work with different partners or, for example, on urban reserves in our communities, to look at how can we partner for that economic development in a way that works for everyone," Toma said.
Mayor Hawtin will also look at community safety.
"She'll talk about the significant perceptions that we should be changing with respect to safety in the community, of course, with the Crime Severity Index ranking, and the city kind of championing a way to advocate for the removal of the ranked communities, while still maintaining, of course, the public statistics, which are readily available for crime data," Toma said.
Hawtin will also talk about infrastructure improvements.
"There will be a significant portion speaking about our recreational facilities and regional partnerships and how we look at working with our neighbours to accomplish some of those different large infrastructure investments," Toma said.
"For example, the Access Communications Centre is an aging facility. Is that something that we need to work with our regional partners to invest in a new facility, or is that something where we're going to rehabilitate our existing facility? So, certainly that will be a big piece of the conversation as well," she added.
There will also be a brief question and answer session following the mayor's formal address.
