Winter has come to Davidson, which means shorter days, colder temperatures and a lot of the white stuff covering the streets, sidewalks and driveways.

The Town of Davidson is prepared for any snow that may fall to the ground this winter, as the budget that ends Dec. 31 has lots of funds left for snow removal and the town will do whatever it takes to keep the roads safe from January to spring, said a town official.

Gary Edom, administrator for Davidson, said the town budgets $10,000 a calendar year for snow removal by Davidson personnel and another $5,000 a year to hire outside contractors in case of a major snowfall. He said the town currently has $7,000 left to cover their own snow removal expenses and the full $5,000 to cover out-of-town contractor expenses until the New Year.

“We will do whatever it takes to get rid of (the snow) to make the streets passable,” said Edom. “We’ll do whatever we can do ourselves and if we have to hire more help we will.

“Our own crew does most of it unless we get really buried. We have our own snow blowers and our own trucks and loaders. We do it ourselves unless we can’t handle it then we bring in either Wright’s Construction here with their big loaders or (a construction company) in Craik to help us with their loaders and trucks to haul it away.”

Edom said the snow from Davidson’s streets is hauled to an area by the Communiplex right next to Highway 11 where in spring it melts and flows into a highway ditch then under the highway and into the reservoir by the water treatment plant.

“It’s just a natural run for it in the spring when it melts to get rid of it,” he said.

The town “normally” clears four blocks of the downtown area to the snow dump, but also blows snow from residential streets into nearby “boulevards” to keep it from packing up. Davidson also sands and salts the streets, but usually only around stop signs and corners to keep the melting agent from building up.

To read more please see the November 26 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

The RCMP and Saskatchewan Snowmobile Association is reminding people to stay off frozen waters until the province receives at least two straight weeks of freezing temperatures.

Craig Cleary, a sergeant with the Lumsden RCMP detachment, said they received a complaint that a vehicle had gone through the ice on Last Mountain Lake near Regina Beach on Nov. 14. After investigating, it was found that a collapsible ice-fishing shack that two fishermen were packing up was mistaken for a vehicle and no one actually went through the ice.

Cleary said it is the reality that people like to get out to experience ice fishing whenever they get the chance, but he encourages everybody to “use common sense” when venturing out on the ice and to make sure they are well informed about “where the safer parts” of the ice are.

He said the RCMP receives calls every winter of people or vehicles going through the ice and at this time of year it is “definitely not thick enough” to take the risk.

“We certainly don’t recommend (people) to go on the ice this early in the season because of the fluctuating temperatures,” said Cleary. “Two winters ago we actually had people go through the ice in the middle of December.”

Chris Brewer, CEO of the Saskatchewan Snowmobile Association, said good blue ice that is 10 to 12 inches thick is needed before heading out onto freezing waters with a snowmobile. He said the problem right now is there is snow covering the little amount of ice on bodies of water, which actually helps insulate the water and keep the heat in.

A snowmobile driver died last week outside the community of Deschambault Lake, 460 km northeast of Saskatoon. His snowmobile was found partially submerged through the ice in the lake.

Brewer said snowmobiles are “heavy machines that could go through ice easily” if people take them onto ice that is not thick enough.

He said people that head out on the trails, even if not onto ice, should always carry a cell phone with them and winter safety equipment such as a blanket and warm clothes just in case of an emergency. A “buddy system” for all snowmobile riders is also recommended.

“That means using two snowmobiles and not just two people on a snowmobile,” said Brewer, noting people can stray pretty far on the machine where a walk back could pose a big problem. “Remember a snowmobile can travel a lot faster than a person can walk.”

The Town of Davidson has been earmarked for $29,875 in federal funding, which will go towards upgrades to the electrical system at the community centre as well as the installation of a rooftop heating and cooling unit for the centre.

Gary Edom, administrator for the Town of Davidson, said the federal funding would cover half the costs of improving the wiring system and installing an air-conditioning unit for the centre. He said the total bill has been costed at $59,749 for the improvements with half of this amount coming back to the Town once the upgrades are completed and the progress report and invoices are sent in.

“For the first phase what we are going to do is put a bit of wiring in here,” said Edom. “It’s all kind of outdated and we’re still on breakers. This first phase has to be done by next March…but they are going to pay the full $17,000. Then the second phase, which is going to be (worked on) after April 1 is the air-conditioner for the auditorium and they are going to pay $12,000 towards it, but they’re paying half of the whole thing altogether, which is nice to get.”

The cost of the wiring improvements will amount to $17,050 and must be completed between July 30, 2012, and March 31, 2013. The government, through the Community Infrastructure Improvement Fund, which is delivered through Western Economic Diversification Canada, will cover the whole amount of this work.

The second phase of the project of installing an air-conditioner for the community centre comes at a cost of $42,399, and another $300 for signs. This work must be done between April 1, 2013, and March 31, 2014. The government will cover $12,674 for the air-conditioning improvements and $150 for the signs, totaling $29,874 or half of the total amount of $59,749.

Edom said the Town applied for this funding after Lynne Yelich, minister of state for Western Economic Diversification, announced in Kenaston in early July that $46.2 million has been allocated towards repairs and improvements to existing community facilities in Western Canada over the next two years. He said the funding they are receiving is everything that they applied for.

“The big thing is for the auditorium as it’ll be nice to have air-conditioning in there especially for the summer with weddings,” said Edom. “It gets so terribly hot in there for big functions in the summertime.”

He said the rewiring is a major project that needed to be completed because they are currently having trouble in the kitchen with “throwing breakers” when the coffee machines are turned on.

“We’re going to try adjusting some of that,” he said. “Get some new electrical panels put in, some new breakers and some wiring changed around. It would certainly work better.  We even had meetings in the council chambers where they plug in a bunch of laptops and they throw breakers. We hope to upgrade things, so that’s not a problem anymore.”