REDVERS — During last week’s regular meeting of Redvers Town Council, the official decision was made to purchase a new transit bus.
The 2025 Diamond Coach VIP 2200 boasts eight ambulatory seats with three-point seat belts, three wheelchair positions and three double foldaways. The total cost for the new transit bus is $174,485, with the majority of the cost covered by federal government dollars through the Rural Transit Solutions Fund. The Town is required to put up a portion of the funds—$50,000—but was granted $200,000 through the RTSF at the end of September.
Council learned of the funding during their council meeting on Sept. 25 but had not settled on a specific vehicle at the time.
“We got several quotes, and that was ultimately the one that council decided on, so we will be purchasing and putting in that order,” said Redvers CAO Tricia Pickard.
The town received three quotes—two from Crestline Coach on a F350 and F450 chassis, and one from Warner Industries on a F350 chassis. Ultimately, the Warner package was chosen, and another surprise was revealed in the timeline quoted to manufacture the transit bus.
“This one’s going take about six to seven months,” Pickard said. “We were kind of thinking a year, to be honest, so this timeline is actually pretty decent.”
The new bus will be used to provide on-demand transit service both within Redvers and for medical transportation to centres further afield such as Brandon and Regina. The transit bus allows residents to maintain their independence, whether the destination is a medical appointment, or just to meet their friends to play cards.
Next on Pickard’s ‘to-do’ list as it relates to the transit bus will be fielding interviews for the Transit Driver position that closed Oct. 7.
Agreements on curb, drainage
Council approved a pair of agreements brought to the Oct. 9 meeting between the Town of Redvers and named residents.
The first agreement was with Colby Magotiaux in light of his request to cut a portion of the front curbing on his property.
The second agreement was with Natasha and Brian Poirier regarding drainage issues behind Luxe Beauty and the Town Office.
Still looking for a few councillors
There will be another call for nominations in the Town of Redvers as two seats at the council table have not been filled.
“I’m kind of surprised that we have two councillor positions, that we do have to do further nominations,” said Pickard. “I thought that we would actually have a vote this year, but, we have to do a further call for nominations, which I was a little bit surprised about.”
So far, Mayor Brad Bulbuck has let his name stand with current Councillors Donna Gilbertson, Ken Thomas, and Owen Gavelin all intending to run again. New to Council is Jeremy Kamp, eager to seek his first term.
Fire department continues updated truck discussions
While no solid decisions have been made yet on an additional fire truck in Redvers, council did discuss the item during last week’s meeting.
“As far as the fire department and the fire truck, there hasn’t been any solid decisions,” Pickard said. “Basically, we were just discussing our options last night and seeing a couple steps that need to get done, a couple phone calls that need to get made, and just finalizing quotes.”
Pilot water project still underway for new water treatment system
Technically, the town’s pilot project and contract with Delco Water as part of their water treatment plant upgrade is complete, but there’s still something that remains—manganese. Through the 16-week project, iron and ammonia have been removed successfully but the manganese levels have not moved much. The question of whether or not to continue with the pilot project to see if more time will affect those manganese levels is what council is currently deciding.
“We probably will be continuing to pilot for another little bit here,” said Pickard, who was amid visits to similar facilities in Rouleau and Carlyle. “That’s part of why we’re going to tour a couple spots today, just to kind of help finalize our decision of, ‘Are we done’? Because technically, we’re done our 16 weeks, but we didn’t have the manganese removal that we were hoping for with the biofiltration.”
The engineer on the project and Delco Water both encouraged continuing with the pilot, using just the RO membrane with no biofiltration. The cost would be about $3,000 per month, and it could take several months to see any change in the levels.
More information gathering will take place before any firm decision is made.
“Rouleau had some of the same challenges as us in the pilot process and different avenues,” Pickard said. “It was our water security operator that said, ‘Hey, why don’t you guys go to Rouleau’? So they’re meeting him today as well.”
New daycare to open
There’s a new daycare coming to Redvers, anticipated to open mid-November after all the associated start-up logistics are completed. Some of that work included a few requests to council, including a discretionary use request, development and renovation permits and a fence permit.
“She’s putting a daycare in her home, so the discretionary use was approved last night, as was her development permit because it’s a renovation,” Pickard explained. “So that was approved. She also had a fence permit, and that was approved as well. So she’s going to be still residential, with a small part being commercial.”
Known as Kiddo’s Kingdom, the daycare will be the third such option for people with small children requiring care.
“We do have a licensed childcare centre, the Redvers Early Learning and Childcare Centre,” Pickard said. “It’s been around for quite a few years, and we do have another daycare, it’s called Buzy Beez, and it’s located in a residential area, and it was also a discretionary use approved by council.”
Pickard is happy to see another daycare come to Redvers “because we always need childcare in the community.”
“All three of these are licensed, the childcare centre is operational on its own,” Pickard said. “But these other ones are in residential properties, and they are licensed through the Childcare Branch, through the Ministry.”
Rec Centre getting fibre
The Redvers Recreation Centre will be getting fibre internet, but it’s taking a different path to get there.
“It was to get RFNOW to the Rec Centre, and it had been previously approved, but with our water treatment upgrade, it was actually our foreman that caught that,” Pickard said, adding that the new path will not pose a possible conflict with future water treatment plant expansion.
“We just changed directions,” she said. “It’s still going to the Rec Center, it’s just going in front of the water treatment plant and then down to the Rec Centre, rather than diagonal, kind of where our reservoir is going to go for the new water treatment plant. We wanted to make sure, no matter what our expansion ends up to be, this line will not be compromised.”
The proposed path will tap into existing fibre running south on the west side of Methunen Street from Highway 13. Once the line reaches almost Dr. Arthur Avenue, it will veer towards the Recreation Centre.
Construction on the line was anticipated to begin last week.
