For the final time this group of City Councillors will meet in their term, they had a full agenda of different things to go over before the preparations for the next council takes their seats. Below is a recap of what happened during council, more detailed stories on some of the big portions will roll out over the week.

Council started off with a presentation from the Downtown Business Association (DBA) about a new initiative they would like to begin to help spur on local shopping in Estevan. The program, simply titled Shop Estevan, will be open to all retailers and food vendors in the city, not just those downtown, and will provide unique deals throughout the city just by shopping at some of the local businesses.

The DBA asked and was approved for $20,000 in startup costs to get things such as banners, store decals, a website, an app, prizing and merchandise, and other costs that will be involved in the campaign. Shop Estevan is set to start in early October.

From there, the board of the Estevan Bruins came into the meeting. They were looking for a sponsorship from the city for the upcoming Centennial Cup in 2022. The city had already provided the club with $50,000 in their initial bid to host the tournament, and part of that deal with the CJHL was that the team would need at least $200,000 in funding secured before the event.

The Bruins asked for the remaining $150,000 they needed, split up over two years, and will receive that money. It was noted that the Bruins would normally ask the corporate community for this kind of funding, but with the difficult year it has been, they figured asking the city would take the burden away from the community and the tournament would stimulate the economy in the city heavily to more than make up for those costs and then some.

Another issue from the council meeting was the reimbursement of a fire invoice from earlier this year. The fire happened out of city limits in the RM of Estevan, and the Estevan Fire Department was coming back from a different fire when they found one near the road. After calling the controlled burn line, they found that the fire was not intentional and stopped to suppress it properly.

The bill that was put together would cost $900, and the landowner is determined to not be the one responsible for the bill because the fire began just off the road, in the RM's jurisdiction. The RM is asking for the bill to be waved as 911 was never called, but the council determined this is not an appropriate option. Instead, the city plans to pay for half of the bill while giving the other half to the RM.

Next was the remuneration of councilors and the mayor's wages. While this could have served as a big, hot button issue, this was resolved fairly quickly. The council decided to tie their wages to that of an MLA in the province so that the Mayor would earn 55% of an MLA, and the councillors will earn 33%, and those wages will be fluid with any increases or decreases that come with an MLA's.

Other things that were further down the list included:

  • a quick presentation from the Estevan Fire Department looking for the purchase of a new fire truck that was approved
  • a look at the debt the city has which has made improvements over the last few years
  • a look at the water quality in the city since the switchover of water sources that reveals that solids in the water have dropped by about 50% in all areas
  • the first reading of bylaw 2020-2032 that outlines the process for nominating a building as a heritage site
  • a second and third reading of bylaw 2020-30 to establish an off-site development levy in respect to land

Finally, discussions ended with councilors thanking one another for their service together over the last four years. Mayor Roy Ludwig plans to run for his position once more along with Councillors Travis Frank and Shelly Veroba. Councillors Dennis Moore and Lyle Yanish have both confirmed that they will not be running again, while Councilors Trevor Knibbs and Greg Hoffort have not clearly stated whether or not they will be running again or not.