WEYBURN - Weyburn city council gave first reading to a new bylaw to regulate the use of portable signs in the city, at their first meeting since the municipal election.
Before council got down to business, the new mayor, Jeff Richards, and members of council were officially sworn in by city solicitor, Levi Paradis.
In regard to the portable sign bylaw, which was last amended in 2014, planning and development coordinator Shara-Lee Malcolm pointed out there are a lot more portable signs out than the city has given permits for.
At the last record-taking by the City, there were 67 portable signs in 41 locations around Weyburn, with the City only issuing 36 permits for signs currently.
In addition, Malcolm said there is no physical way for the city to track which signs have been paid for, as the signs’ owners information is not displayed or else the signs are in different locations than listed on the permit.
The amended bylaw will have colour-coded stickers for the owners of the signs to affix on the sides of the sign, so they’re visible to city officials.
The owners of the signs placed without a permit sticker will have letters or calls made by the city, and if they do not comply, there will be fines levied and the signs will be confiscated.
The bylaw will now come back at a future council meeting, to allow for time for the public or council to make any comments for amending the bylaw.
• In other council business, council approved a tender bid for the supply and installation of a new air purification system for the Fire Hall and Public Works building.
This was a project carried over from 2023, with $100,000 budgeted for the project. Three companies registered to review the tender proposal, and in the end one bid was made by an Ontario company, Air Technology Solutions Canada Inc.
They bid $116,750, which was accepted by council. In addition to approving this, council had the overage of $16,750 moved to the 2025 budget year as a pre-approval, to enable the project to go ahead.
The company indicated they would install it by February or March of 2025.
The system will scrub the air of diesel exhaust and other potential carcinogenic contaminants, providing a safer work environment for the Fire Hall, Public Works and offices in that building.
City manager Mathew Warren noted the budget pre-approval is put in so that it can’t be removed from the upcoming 2025 budget.
• Council approved sending out a six-month notice to those property owners who have not paid their 2023 taxes.
The notice is being served to give property owners the opportunity to redeem their property before the city requests the title of the properties from the Provincial Mediation Board. If no action has been taken in six months to pay the taxes, the city will request the titles from the mediation board.
This year, there are 20 properties in arrears, owing a total of $51,795.49. This is down significantly from last year, when there were 68 properties in arrears.
• There wasn’t much new construction activity in the city in October, as the City issued one building permit, and one demolition permit for a garage. The building permit was for a new garage in the location of the demolished one, and had a construction value of $12,000.
This brings the number of building permits to 47 as of the end of October, along with nine demolition permits, with a total construction value of $86,387,024.
This compares to 2023, when the city had issued 47 permits as of the end of October, along with 11 demolition permits, with a total construction value of $14,465,768.
