In many respects 2011 was a year of stark contrasts for the City of Estevan.
While there were some incredible highs such as the long awaited opening of Spectra Place, the year was also marked by some major lows as flooding caused significant damage in the area.
In a year end interview with The Mercury, Mayor Gary St. Onge looked back on what he described as a tough year for the City and looked forward to 2012 when the focus will be on ensuring Estevan continues to grow and meet the needs of the booming economy.
Much like 2012, St, Onge said the City had an aggressive agenda in 2011 but a number of those projects were either partially completed or postponed due to the excessive moisture that prevented crews from getting to work.
"It was not a great year. With all the water we didn't get a lot of the work done that we had hoped to get done," St. Onge said. "We didn't get our watermain replacement done, we didn't get onto Sixth Street because we are still waiting for the municipal board to OK it."
Although he was disappointed to see much of the scheduled work not completed, St. Onge said that was tempered somewhat by the opening of Spectra Place. After roughly two years of construction, the $22 million facility opened with a pair of events in March and April and became fully accessible to the public later in the spring.
The mayor says he is happy with how much Spectra Place is being enjoyed by the public, not only by the local sporting community but also those who have attended the concerts and also use the walking track for exercise.
"Every time I go over there, there are lots of people walking and a lot of people who would never go into the rink, are not involved in hockey or skating older people, they love it. And of course when they are walking they have to look around and they say 'you've got a beautiful rink,'" said St. Onge.
As for the operation of Spectra Place, St. Onge admitted there has been a learning curve and growing pains for the City's operation staff.
He noted that all involved are still learning the ins and outs of the building and expects that once everything is ironed out, the facility will be that much better.
"It has so much more potential than what we are using now," St. Onge said. "Hopefully by next year everything will be in place so we can use it to its full potential."
The operation of the ice plant is another area that St. Onge said the City is continuing to work on. There have been a couple of occasions where the plant went down overnight and both staff and arena users arrived the next day to find a pool of water. St. Onge said the alarms on the ice plant were not configured properly, a problem they are working to solve.
"I think the rink is doing very well. The two events coming up, I think there is going to be a lot of people there. I guess you can expect (the learning curve) but it's a great facility.
With 2011 in the books, the City is now focusing on 2012 and St. Onge said growth will be an issue on many fronts and much of the work on the schedule will help facilitate that growth.
Although Estevan has been growing, St. Onge said it could grow even more if they can get a handle on the housing issue. As has been well documented, the city has a shortage of available rental properties.
He noted that a committee, led by the Saskatchewan Â鶹´«Ã½AVeast Enterprise Region, is continuing to work on the lack of housing and will be hiring a housing planner to survey the local needs.
St. Onge also noted Estevan is out of lots to build homes on but there are some on the horizon. City staff met with the development company behind The Meadows of Estevan project in the northwest corner and St. Onge said he is confident they will be moving forward.
"That will be big."
To help facilitate The Meadows and other projects such as a commercial development on land west of St. Joseph's Hospital, the City is building a new water reservoir and will also undertake a major sewer project to allow those projects to begin.
"We are getting closer to having all the design work done on the sewer that has to go up to the northwest to be able to do commercial out there," St. Onge said. "The plans are pretty well done for the reservoir which will start in March."
There is also work planned for the east side of Estevan as well including the extension of a road which will run to the land behind Walmart which will allow for new commercial developments.
Asked if he feels Estevan is ready for the many projects that groups would like to start here, St. Onge said yes and no. Yes in the sense that they are open and willing to work with developers. No because there remains a lack of housing and a subsequent employee shortage which impacts all sectors of business.
Making Estevan a more accessible city and more appealing to the eye will also continue to be a focus in 2012.
There are a handful of pathways that were expected to be completed in 2011 but will be finished this year. The Kensington Avenue pathway is a critical one as it will give pedestrians access to businesses on the east side.
The south portion of the park in the Trojan subdivision was completed in 2011 and has been popular with users. The swale in that area was also completed and the drainage pond along Kensington will see work this year.
"When I look back to 2000 when I got on council, we were doing nothing. Now, all of a sudden, we've got all this stuff going on and we can't get it done fast enough to make everybody happy but it is coming along pretty good."
2012 is also an election year in Estevan and St. Onge reiterated that he will not be seeking relection.
"I had a call the other day that reminded me why I am not running again," he said.
No current members of council or anyone from the community have indicated that they plan to make a run for the mayor's chair.
