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“I did watch the budget presentation from this afternoon by Minister Harpauer and surprisingly no announcement was made for the funding of any hospital,” he said. 

“There were no specifics for any municipalities that I heard, I didn’t see the wrap up afterwards, but she didn’t say anything about us getting or losing money, so that’s a good sign.

“There was interesting information on health care, though, they’re spending more money specifically on rural health in terms of doctor retention and trying to get more people into the health care system with more training for nurses, more money for paramedics for rural Saskatchewan, things like that.

“All and all from a municipal standpoint, I thought it was a pretty bland budget, but it was interesting on the health side that they do recognize we are struggling like every other community and we hope to see some actual results from their spending on those conditions,” Forster said.

Council members also discussed the PST being added to recreational activities, such as concerts, football games etc. However they addressed that PST does not directly affect municipalities’ overall budget.

Sidewalk request from citizen 

Council members discussed a letter they received from a citizen in Esterhazy to construct a sidewalk on Summer Street, from Gonczy Avenue to the corner of Park Street.

“Even though there is a four-way stop at the corner of Gonczy Ave. and Summer Street, traffic still travels very fast,” stated the citizen in their letter.

“When we are out for walks in the evening, there is no place to walk but on the road. It is a very poorly lit street, cars are not able to see pedestrians or children on their bicycles very well.”

Council discussed the possibility of installing a concrete or asphalt sidewalk, along with putting lights at the requested area.

Following the discussion, they decided to have the public works committee and community development committee look further into the request before making any final decisions.

Posting for asphalt tender  

At Wednesday’s council meeting, director of operations Joel Friesen told members that the asphalt tender will be posted by the end of March.

 “I’ve spoken to a couple of companies who are looking forward to getting it. Mike and I just have to get some clarification on which route we have to go, to put the tender up,” Friesen said.

The town has a long list of streets they would like paved this year.

Shut down of rink for the season

Recreation Director Garth Forster told council members that the town’s ice rink will be shut down at the end of the week of March 28.

Forster also advised council members that applications for summer staff have been extended to the end of March, due to the shortage of applications for some summer positions.

“If we don’t get any more applications from people who are available to start May 1, we may have to look at hiring a few part timers from our high school students and we will go from there,” he said.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Forster also discussed with council about him meeting with representatives from Mosaic regarding Mosaic’s Spring Expo being slated for May 9 to 12, at the SN Boreen Centre.

Regional Park Board says ball diamond needs to be renovated 

 Councillor Maggie Rowland discussed with members about the community’s ball diamonds requiring repairs, at Wednesday’s council meeting. 

“We had a Regional Park Committee meeting and we wanted to know what’s happening with the dugouts for the ball diamonds,” Rowland said.

“We would like to know because we want to start refurbishing ball diamonds 1, 2 and 3, and we would like for all four diamonds to be the same.”

Garth Forster, Director of Operations, told members he will look further into finding a contractor to inspect what is needed to fully repair all four ball diamonds, so that they all match.

Motion passed for landfill summer hours  

At Estherhazy’s town council meeting on Wednesday, council passed a motion for the landfill’s summer hours.

The landfill will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday, starting May 3.

Water Regional System Reports  

At Wednesday’s council meeting, CAO Mike Thorley updated members about Esterhazy’s Regional Water System.

“Our superstructure design has been 95 per cent completed, there’s just some minor variances on the building itself that have to be finalized,” he said.

“That’s for our contract one, our contract two is for the land work where we are trying to negotiate to get some tilled land that will be required to be put in place.”

Thorley told members the planning for it should be fully completed by the end of next month.

He said after the negotiations and planning is finalized, construction for the regional water system will begin shortly after.

“Our timelines are in the end of June, we’ll have the area leveled and ready for the building to be put on, hopefully by the end of August we will have the building in place.”

RCMP--—Community Consultation for Developing Policing Objectives 

CAO Mike Thorley told council members at Wednesday’s meeting that the Esterhazy/Langenburg RCMP Detachment is now in the planning process for developing their policing objectives for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.

“This year’s objectives will look at two categories, on enhancing policing efforts and building trust,” Thorley said.

“They asked council if we wanted to provide input to Sgt. Geoff Stringfellow in order to help the local detachment to focus on the most consistent needs.” 

Council decided to prepare questions before meeting with the detachment on April 15.

How community members can help Ukranian refugees in town

Council received a letter from MLA Warren Kaeding advising council members that resources are available if the community requires assisting Ukrainian refugees or families in the town.

“We’ve had a few people from the community ask about how they can assist family members or people coming from Ukraine, so it’s good to know that we have resources available to them,” said CAO Mike Thorley.

Community co-ordinators are available to help families connect to resources such as settlement services, language training and employment services to integrate into the province and workforce.