By Kevin Gilby
DAVIDSON—Town council met Jan. 20 to discuss ongoing and future town business. Items discussed include:
• The town discussed installing two new large bay garage doors on the south side of the town shop in the coming year. The town wishes to install at least one door with windows but may complete both doors budget permitting.
• Richardson International requested permission from the town to upgrade/work on the access road to their grain terminal south of Davidson. The access road, near the Shell service station resides on town property. The town, satisfied that the work would be done to specifications, moved to allow the work to take place.
• Discussion for water and sewage rates was tabled so that administrators Gary Edom and Donna Bessey may prepare their assessment for council’s consideration.
• The town moved to retain 2014 council remuneration rates for the next fiscal year.
• During an Air Cadet’s meeting at the town auditorium, it was reported that the roof was leaking on account of unseasonably warm weather. During the summer, work was done to all of the roofing on the town hall with the exception of the auditorium on account of funding considerations. Councillors noted that the new flooring in the auditorium was not damaged and that they must rush to obtain quotes to fix the auditorium roof as soon as possible. Town Administrator Gary Edom anticipates the cost of the repair work to be approximately $160,000 and that the town will have to secure a loan to complete the work. During the interim, the town moved to ensure that snow on the roof be kept to a minimum.
Category Archives: featured
What is PLEA?
PLEA stands for Public Legal Education Association. PLEA is a Saskatchewan-based non-profit, non-government organization which exists to educate and inform the people of Saskatchewan about the law and the legal system. The program brings volunteers into organizations, classroom, and community to speak on a variety of law-related topics. PLEA produces publications on many areas of the law and makes these available to the public at no charge.
PLEA has just launched a family law website www.familylaw.plea.org. This is primarily a website pertaining to family law but has many links to valuable forms and information.
Dellene Church, B.A., LL.B., will be facilitating “Life After 60” talks in Davidson on Wednesday, Jan. 28 and Thursday, Jan. 29 made possible by PLEA, The Law Foundation of Saskatchewan, the Department of Justice Canada, and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice. The details of both meetings are described on Page 8 of today’s paper.
Hockey kids come home to Hanley
HANLEY—It was a busy weekend in Hanley at the local arena with “Hockey Day In Hanley.” It kicked off Friday night with the Hooters Ladies team playing the Dundurn Wheat Queens. At 8:30 p.m., the Dundurn Wheat Kings faced off against the Kinistino Tigers treating the full-house crowd to a fast action game. The Dundurn Wheat Kings came out with a win in the last minute, winning 7-6.
Saturday was a full day of hockey beginning at 10 a.m with the Dundurn Pee Wee Wolfpack versus Saskatoon Wild, 11:15 brought all the little ones out with the Hanley Initiation playing the Dundurn Wolfpack, 1 p.m. the Novice Dundurn Wolfpack played the Saskatoon Redwing Cyclone and at 2:30 p.m. the ice was turned over to the Midgets with the Clavet Midgets II versus Clavet Midgets III. The day ended with the Dundurn Atom Wolfpack playing the Saskatoon Bobcat Pirates.
It was good to see the arena full both days with parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbours, and friends out to watch a “Good Old Hockey Game.” Many of our Kids and Adults all travel to surrounding communities to play hockey and it was great to watch the boys and girls come home and play the game in front of hometown crowd.
Fix in the works for Craik water plant
By Kevin Gilby
CRAIK—After five years of having to boil water, Craik will soon have drinkable water again.
Randy Schatz, president of Regina based company Element Water Systems, presented the community with a solution to their long-standing water problems.
Under the proposal, the community will install four oxygen-based ozone generators in the water treatment plant and source a different water supply. The town will begin testing for well sites near the Craik Regional Park as soon as possible.
Part of the work will include the addition of flow meters and valves to the existing water treatment plant. By monitoring the draw on the tanks, the town will be able to efficiently identify which tanks need backwashing and have early warning of other possible maintenance issues.
Schatz received approval from Water Security Agency inspector Roger Miller before presenting his findings to the town.
The town has begun investigating grants to help fund the installation of the ozone generators and drilling of an additional well.
Ozone generators, used to disinfect water and provide taste/odour control, also provide colour removal, and manganese oxidation. The compound has been used for these purposes for over 100 years.
“It is exciting to have news that the town will have drinkable water again,” said Mayor Rick Rogers.
He said that winter does not present a barrier to the start of work. Completion of the project will take between one and two years.
Craik council takes care of business
By Kevin Gilby
CRAIK—Craik town council met Jan. 14 and took care of town business including:
• A representative from Loraas Disposal was present to justify rate increases for waste disposal and changes to their recycling program. Users of the recycling program are now allowed to bag their waste in clear, loosely-tied bags. Mayor Rick Rogers said the fees for waste pickup will only increase by 4 per cent, the maximum agreed upon rate, despite Moose Jaw landfill rates increasing by 61 per cent.
• Don Wilkins, from Girvin, offered to install a point of interest near Highway 11 and the Craik Cemetery. He wishes to place a threshing machine, well-pump, or other vintage machine acknowledging the town’s history.
• The town has placed an order for a new clutch for their grader
• Element Water Systems proposed a solution to the community drinking water.
• RCMP sergeant John Ermel’s introduction to the council was rescheduled for the next town meeting in February
Recycling rates are on the rise
DAVIDSON—The cost of recycling is going up for Davidson ratepayers this year.
In this month’s newsletter that accompanies water bills the Town of Davidson notified residents of increases in recycling fees.
Commercial recycling customers who use the metal Loraas bins are hardest hit by the increase and will see their recycling fees more than triple. For example, the fee charged for a 4 cubic yard bin that is emptied monthly will go from $17.75 to $59.85 per quarter as the town tries to cover the costs of providing the service.
In November Davidson town council approved a resolution to increase commercial recycling rates.
Mayor Clayton Schneider said when the program started council decided to subsidize commercial users for the first year because the commercial tax rate is 30 per cent more than the residential rate.
“Then, for whatever reason, the commercial rate was never adjusted. Now that our contract with Loraas has been renewed, council made the decision to adjust the commercial rates to where it should have been all along.”
This had cost the town about $12,000 per year.
In its letter to ratepayers, the town states, “We realize that this will be a substantial increase, but the Town of Davidson can no longer afford this subsidy. In fact, the bin fees are closer to what the actual costs should have been since the program began.”
The new rates, outlined in the newsletter, are the first increases since the town contracted with Loraas Disposal Services for recycling three years ago.
Rates for the blue rollout carts, used by residences and some commercial enterprises, will have a more modest increase from $16.35 per quarter to $18.65.
Last fall, Loraas notified the town in the fall that it was changing its service rates “due to an adjustment for Consumer Price Index”. Effective Jan. 1 the service rates for recycling carts would be $5.55 per month and the rates charged for the steel bins would go to $4.45 per cubic yard.
To read more, please see the Jan. 19 print edition of The Davidson Leader.