MOOSOMIN — In her report to Moosomin town council on Dec. 18, Economic Development Officer Casey McCormac noted that the proposal to host an addiction recovery centre in Moosomin has been denied once again.
“We have put in a bunch of proposals to the government, but I did hear back, and we were denied for the fourth time,” she said.
The Â鶹´«Ã½AVeast Recovery Centre Inc. board has been trying to establish a facility in Moosomin since 2022 when the province announced an increased goal of 200 treatment spaces in the province. In September, McCormac submitted the latest proposal, which included an outpatient counsellor and a local office as an initial step.
The group will be meeting with some provincial government representatives in January for a day-long session.
In the meantime, there have been a couple of other groups the SRC has reached out to as well.
“We have been speaking to the Métis Nation, and I think they’re going to send someone out, hopefully once a week, to do counselling, and then we had also spoken to Envision Counselling on Tuesday,” McCormac said. “They’re out of Weyburn, Estevan, Oxbow, and Carlyle, and they’ve said Moosomin has been on their radar for a while.”
Envision has been receiving referrals from the Moosomin area already.
Citizens on Patrol
receives council support
In a follow-up to a request to council to form a Citizens on Patrol group in Moosomin, Mayor Murray Gray told council about his conversation with the RCMP during last week’s meeting.
After the request came forward at a previous meeting, council decided they would reach out to the RCMP before approving anything.
“What I can update is the RCMP are going to meet with them to make sure that they all know what their expectations are, and I asked to be involved in that meeting so I can report back,” he said. “So when they do sit down, I’ll go to the meeting and report then. But I think at this point in time we could make a motion to support it.”
Council approved a motion giving a letter of support for the initiative.
Strategist funding
Council approved a motion to reduce the level of funding for a strategist to $10,000 per year with the option to double the amount in the future. The funding is a partnership between the Town, RM, and the CBA for economic development. Previously the town was paying $20,000 a year for a strategist to work on the town’s behalf.
“We talked about this at the last meeting, about lowering the amount of money for the strategist right now,” explained Mayor Murray Gray. “That is how the RM passed their motion—it was for $10,000 for the strategist per year right now, with the ability to bump it back up with council approval. That’s how we had discussed it, and that’s how they passed it.”
He said the strategist utilized through the joint partnership has been helpful in past endeavours and would continue to be a valuable asset in the future.
“They’ve been instrumental in the airport and the daycare, and they’re still working on the CT scanner, which is one of the reasons why we need to make sure we keep them,” explained Gray.
Only 10 units left to
fill housing incentive mandate
The housing incentive that gained Moosomin so much notoriety continues to prove its success. McCormac updated council on recent developments after speaking with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
“I met with our CMHC reps, and they’re very impressed with Moosomin, because we needed to hit three building permits by March 2025, and we’re at 33 building permit units,” she said.
The targets for Moosomin were 36 multi-unit/other, four multi-unit/missing middle and three other.
“We’re at 27 multi-unit/other, four multi-unit/missing middle—so we’ve hit that target—and two other,” McCormac said. “We have 10 units left to go, and we have until 2027.”
The Housing Accelerator Fund is a $1 million federal grant, which the town decided to use to offer a $30,000 incentive for new housing units—plus $8,000 for each additional door on multi-unit properties.
Revenue Sharing resolution
Council approved a resolution declaring they are eligible to receive the annual municipal revenue share.
“Revenue sharing we get from the province, 0.75 of one per cent of the PST, and it’s unconditional, but they want to make sure that we’re doing some basic items, which is filing, paying our school division taxes on time, and getting the reporting, etc.,” explained CAO Paul Listrom for the benefit of newer council members. Moosomin stands to gain approximately $680,000 this year through the revenue share.
Engineer hired
Council approved a motion to hire MPE Engineering to perform asset retirement obligation for the lagoon and two wells. The cost of the project quoted to the town came in at $4,300.
