ESTEVAN - Estevan city council has approved the tender for a warmup and storage building to be constructed at the Westview subdivision’s park.
B & S Construction was awarded the tender for $168,930 plus tax at the Sept. 26 meeting, as it was the lowest of the three bids. All three came in over the estimated budget of $130,000 for the project.
“We appreciate there are increases to labour/materials, and issues with supply chains resulting in overall more expensive projects. It is not expected that prices will drop in the foreseeable future,” wrote Rod March, the city’s manager of parks and facilities, in a report to council.
March said it will be a modern structure to accommodate year-round recreational opportunities in the area. This building is part of the pathway project initiated last year.
“The intent is to develop the Westview area into a year-round recreational area and this building will be the hub of the objectives,” he said.
March noted the city has received lots of concerns over the years because the present building is small and in a dilapidated state.
“This new building will house a storage room. We’re going to turn the old pool into a community garden,” said March.
It will also have washrooms and serve as a warm-up shack for people using the outdoor rink during the winter.
Councillor Kirsten Walliser – who was also the deputy mayor and meeting chair Sept. 26, as Mayor Roy Ludwig was on vacation – wanted to know about timelines. March said he hopes the building will be finished by December.
“We have some really good volunteers down there who help flood that outdoor rink, so I think they will be pretty excited to have it all in place this year,” March said.
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Also during the meeting, council gave its blessing for the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation to have a reduced rental rate for the upcoming Festival of Trees.
In a letter to council, executive director Lori Gervais said the foundation is “thrilled” to be able to have an in-person gala this year. There has been an agreement for the past five years in which the foundation pays a discounted rate of $3,750 for set-up and take down, along with rental of the arena floor.
The festival has been a popular event and is anticipated in the community, Gervais said, and it is their largest fundraiser of the year.
The Festival of Trees will be Nov. 26 and 27.
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One building permit worth $30,000 was issued in August, bringing the total for the year to 33 permits worth more than $5.3 million. The one permit was for a garage.
In the first eight months of last year, 30 permits worth more than $1.8 million were approved.
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City manager Jeff Ward lauded the Affinity Place staff, the volunteers and everyone else who helped make the Sept. 24 Dallas Smith-Kelly Prescott concert possible at Affinity Place. The concert was Estevan’s reward after the city won the Sirius/XM Music Towns contest earlier this year.
He noted it was great to have a live concert back at the venue for the first time in nearly three years, and it was a good kick start to what they want to do moving forward at Affinity.
