The Swimming Pool @ Central Park saw some upgrades to the change rooms. Work at the Centennial and Jubilee Arena Complex saw upgrades of the lighting system to LEDs, replacing the arena chiller that had failed this year, and purchasing two Zambonis to replace the ageing ones. Replacing the header trench at the Evergreen Centre means they will now be able to have curling ice, Harper said, which was a long time coming but welcome replacement for the town. This was also a year the town chose to revitalize their murals. Some care and attention was needed to deal for Yorkton artist Rita Swanson to deal with the fading and chipping in some of the long-standing murals in the community.
Mayor Glenn George said the biggest thing for the city to celebrate in 2020 was the completion of their new heliport at the Melfort Hospital and the fundraising that took place to make it happen. With funds raised exceeding their $600,000 price tag, more than $117,000 will now be donated to the North Central Health Care Foundation to address further healthcare needs in Melfort. Five projects were also completed in Melfort in 2020 thanks to the provincial government’s Municipal Economic Enhancement Program and the over $800,000 that Melfort received in order to address infrastructure issues in their community. Given the challenges of COVID-19, George is proud of how the citizens of Melfort rose up to make their communities safe during this time. While there are people who may disagree, he said, most people were more than willing to do what they had to do to control the spread of the virus and local governments did what they had to do to get rules in place.
While these have been projects long overdue, Behiel said the city’s financial success has been a real highlight for him. “We ve done $4 million worth of infrastructure work and we haven t borrowed any money to do it. [That] shows you how efficiently we ve got that budget tuned and how much we ve done to be responsible to our citizens and businesses.” The city’s finance department and administration have planned everything so well this year, he said, and this success is a testament to their hard work. Behiel is also proud of how the city council and staff have responded to COVID-19. Support from the provincial government through the Municipal Economic Enhancement Program meant funds were available for multiple much needed projects including stormwater management and the Highway 5 turning lane into Centennial Park, and support from BHP has allowed some additional funding for technological upgrades to the city’s council chamber video conferencing equipment meaning they
Small councils increasingly eye digital governance When Saskatchewan announced its first case of COVID-19 in March and encouraged businesses that could operate remotely to do so, many small municipalities didn t have websites, Orb says. Some municipalities understood the need to be transparent and accountable and pushed forward with website development. In November 2019, roughly 55 per cent of 775 local governments had a website. Orb says that number has grown in the last 12 months. And while web traffic has typically been relatively low on many municipality websites, Orb thinks COVID-19 is changing that; he says more residents are checking out their communities websites and reading online meeting minutes to stay informed.
The resolutions passed Monday are as follows: The first called for the reduced amount of requested funds from both the transit and Handi-bus systems to be transferred towards the purchase of a new Handi-Bus. That was carried. A second resolution called for the amount of $10,000 (included in the budget due to COVID-19) to be applied to grant requests of Concern for Youth and Midwest Food Resources, and further that follow-up be made with Midwest Food Resources in reducing their grant request. Midwest Food Resources had initially requested $5,830, but Director of Finance Steve Brown confirmed Monday that their ask was now down to $3,000. The grant towards Concern for Youth was for $5,000.