As 2010 winds to a close, everyone looks back at the year to ponder what they've accomplished and looks ahead to plan for the new year.
The City of Humboldt is no different, as the Journal discovered when it sat down with Mayor Malcolm Eaton on December 16.
This has been the busiest year Eaton has seen since he joined council in 2003.
"It's been an extremely busy year for council and for city staff," is how Eaton summed up 2010. "There's been an awful lot of develop and a lot of planning for development. There been lots of inquiries for information and for services.
"Add to that the weather conditions that affected lots of our operations."
To help deal with growth, the city undertook a strategic planning process in 2010, Eaton noted.
From that process, council identified four areas and categorized a number of goals in each area, he explained.
Those areas included planning for growth, community development, community engagement, and corporate sustainability.
Those areas cover everything from infrastructure development, to enhancing community pride and cultural opportunities, effective communication, and fostering a culture of innovation and leadership, along with fiscal responsibility.
The strategic plan has allowed the city to undertake an important process which started with council and civic administration, but has expanded to engage with the Humboldt and District Chamber of Commerce (HDCC), the Humboldt Seniors' Club, and students at Humboldt Collegiate Institute (HCI).
"The next step is to have a much wider community involvement in planning how to develop and grow our city," Eaton said. "We're calling it 'Our Humboldt' and we're looking for broad-based feedback from the community to develop plans to improve the city."
The recently established task force on housing is just one piece of the strategic plan, a constantly evolving document, as is developing an arts council, Eaton explained.
The hiring of a new city manager was also an important event in 2010. James Moller started on October 31 and council asked him to focus on three things: looking at the city's organization and structure and make recommendations for change; undertaking a major review of the budgeting process; and moving the strategic plan forward.
"Like many communities, we are trying to move our budgeting process up, to get an earlier start on projects," Eaton said. "Now that we have predictable income from the province, we can plan better."
The year also had its share of highlights.
The fact that the new Humboldt District Health Complex has reached the point where it will be open shortly is very gratifying for the community, Eaton said.
"We've been on this journey for 20 years and now it's just a matter of a few more weeks," he said.
Having the Humboldt District Hospital Foundation $1.8 million equipment campaign reach its goal was also an important achievement.
"I was very impressed by the regional support," Eaton said. "The PotashCorp support; so many groups, businesses, organizations, and individuals contributed. It created a lot of community spirit in Humboldt and the region."
Eaton is also pleased with the start of the Caleb Village project, the development of a seniors' assisted living complex in Humboldt.
"Council has been discussing (a project like this) for a number of years," Eaton noted. "Mayor (Dennis) Korte spoke of it when I started on council."
The city is pleased the project is moving forward so quickly and that the developers chose a spot in downtown Humboldt for their location, he added.
The construction of the new HCI, Carlton Trail Regional College (CTRC) wing, and the link to the Uniplex was also an important project started in 2010.
"This creates a whole new vision for relationships and partnerships between the educational facilities and the community," Eaton said. "We want the school to be able to take maximum advantage of our facilities and we want to develop ways for the community to take advantage of the educational facilities.
"We have a positive vision of this development as a destination centre that will bring people to the community."
The project also allowed the city to improve its facilities by making the Uniplex wheelchair accessible with the addition of an elevator and washrooms. It also allows the city an opportunity to improve the services it offers in the complex and creates better flow by opening up the lobby area, he explained.
The new construction is also part of the bigger plan of developing Centennial Park around the Uniplex. The city has a long-term vision of developing trails, ball diamonds and sports fields, and a possible second ice surface and a field house around the Uniplex.
"This is a five- to 10-year development plan that will let us bring resources to support the development of the area," Eaton said.
As well, the development at the Uniplex allows the city and Horizon School Division to begin planning for a new public school.
"We're very interested in developing the grounds and moving the traffic and parking away from the highway," Eaton said. "We're also very interested in working with the school division on improving Sutherland Theatre and creating a vision of Sutherland Theatre that includes community use."
The successful bid for Humboldt to host the 2012 RBC Cup is also on Eaton's list of exciting developments in 2010.
"We're absolutely thrilled with the bid. We know a lot of people worked really hard on the bid," Eaton said. "This will put Humboldt on the map nationally. We will be welcoming people from across the country in 2012."
The RBC Cup is not just a hockey event, but it's a community event, he noted. The bid committee is looking forward to working with all the groups and organizations in the city to make the tournament a true community event, Eaton noted.
The growth and development of the city is also an important part of the past year, Eaton said.
"Building permits are over $44 million in 2010," Eaton stated. "We're back to 2008 levels when it was the highest ever at $45 million."
Building permit values were only $22 million in 2009.
The growth is in all sectors, he noted, residential, commercial and industrial.
"This shows lots of confidence in the economic health of the city and the region," Eaton said. "We expect continued growth in 2011."
But there are a lot of challenges that come with that kind of growth and development, he added.
"We've been really affected by the (wet) weather this year," he said. "Our staff has been really stretched and it has affected all aspects of our infrastructure. This is the second year in a row that the weather has severely affected our infrastructure, especially our road and sidewalk repairs."
The city has had more money budgeted for those two areas than ever before, but hasn't been able to do the planned work due to heavy rainfall.
The wet spring and summer also created more issues, affecting alleys, ball diamonds, and cemeteries, just to name a few other problems that arose this year.
"It's caused us to take a look at what we are planning for next year," Eaton admitted. "We have work planned and money set aside, so we are hoping for a better (construction) season, weather-wise."
The city is also looking at recruiting additional staff and adding new equipment as they explore various options of getting work done.
"The April 13 flood event started a whole year of weather issues," Eaton said. "The extreme levels of moisture caused sewer backups and seepage issues for homeowners."
"We maybe didn't receive as much attention as Martensville or Yorkton, but our situation was every bit as serious. That's why we declared a disaster, so people could access the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program (PDAP)," Eaton said.
As a result of that flooding, council stepped up its efforts to improve the storm water system and offered rebate programs to property owners. There are also other improvements being made to the system and still others under consideration for the future, Eaton noted.
The new year will be a busy time for the city once again as there will be more infrastructure work to do, more planning and development, and more celebrations.
There will be the grand opening of the new hospital, the opening of the Caleb Group's senior assisted living complex, continued work on the new high school and community college, as well as planning for the move of the public elementary school to go into the old high school building, Eaton explained.
The city is also working with the Sisters of St. Elizabeth, through the Humboldt and District Museum and Gallery, to develop plans for the "Absolutely outstanding historical collection of artifacts" that the Order is donating to the city, Eaton noted.
The further development of the Original Humboldt site is also being planned.
The new year will also see the city having to make some hard choices.
"Our community is growing and changing and so is the budget process," Eaton said. "There are so many challenges facing us, that I anticipate a difficult budget process."
The budget allows the city to grow and develop the community as a better place, Eaton said.
"Council definitely has some priorities that we want to move on, such as roads and sidewalks," Eaton stated. "We know those are also priorities of the community."
The continued growth in the potash industry, both at PotashCorp Lanigan and the proposed BHP Billiton project at near LeRoy, are also driving the growth and development of the city, Eaton noted.
"They are not the only part. We have a strong economy in the region," Eaton said. "Agriculture was affected by the weather, but it is still strong.
"Being a retail and service centre for the region is an expanding and developing role for our community."
Eaton also praises the work of individuals, groups, and organizations in the community that work to make the city a better place.
"We're really fortunate to have such a vibrant community," he said. "It is all a result of the work of the groups and organizations in our community."
Eaton mentioned the HDCC, the Humboldt and District Museum and Gallery board, Partners for Rural Family Support, the Seniors club, the Humboldt Broncos, the minor sports teams, St. Peter's College and Carlton Trail Regional College, and Communities in Bloom as just a few examples of the groups that make the community a better place.
All of these groups provide energy and enthusiasm to improve the community and are a benefit to all sectors of the community, Eaton said.
"They really make Humboldt a great place to live and work," he stated.
