Council briefs
News and notes from the May 17 regular meeting of Estevan city council.
The City has learned it will receive $1.45 million from the provincial government for the 2010-11 revenue sharing grants.
The unconditional grants are provided to Saskatchewan's cities, towns, villages and resort villages each year. Overall the province will provide $107.1 million to those entities.
The City's grant is less than they were expecting. The government and the province's cities and RMs signed an agreement in 2009 that would provide communities with one percentage point of Saskatchewan's provincial sales tax and beyond. However because the government found itself in a cash crunch, it decided to keep the figure locked in at the 2009 level of 90 per cent of one PST percentage point.
The difference for Estevan was roughly $500,000. Mayor Gary St. Onge said he is confident the government will move to the full percentage point for 2011 and beyond.
The members of council formally approved an agreement to lease a condominium for one year.
The residence will be provided to a doctor who has been looking to move to Estevan but has been unable to find a home.
St. Onge said this is one of the many enticements Saskatchewan cities are being forced to offer to lure doctors to their community and if Estevan doesn't begin to get in the game it will be left behind.
Council approved a pair of permits for upcoming events in the city.
On June 4, the Estevan Lives Rider Pride group is holding a cabaret in the Lignite Miners Centre as part of their work to get the Energy City named Riderville for one day.
The second permit was for the beer gardens and cabaret associated with the 2010 Maxi Twilite Baseball Tournament which is scheduled for July 9 to 11.
The organizing committee plans to have a beer garden located between the two diamonds at Lynn Prime Park which will host the 35 and over tournament. There is also a supper and cabaret planned for the Estevan Curling Club on July 10.
The members of council and St. Onge will be meeting with the Sun Country Health Region's board of directors June 23 in Weyburn.
The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the municipal health levy that is being proposed by the City and RM of Estevan. The topic of making St. Joseph's Hospital a regional hospital is also likely to be on the agenda.
Council approved a change order for the new arena project at the meeting as well. The change will allow for a wider door on the elevator access room and will lead to a decrease of $599 from the project's contingency fund.
It was also noted that the project passed the one year mark as the sod-turning ceremony was held May 15, 2009.
A pair of tenders were also awarded at the meeting. The one tender dealt with the Arthur Avenue development project that will see the road extended from Henry Street to Eva Street.
The tender was awarded to Turnbull Excavating who had the low bid of $165,833.
The other involved turnout gear for the members of the Estevan Fire Rescue Services. Rocky Mountain Phoenix of Abbotsford, B.C. won the tender to provide the EFS with six sets of gear at a cost of $7,920.
