WILKIE — Well over a hundred residents came to the Town of Wilkie’s public meeting March 27, to hear councillors speak about doctors and the medical clinic, the new swimming pool, paving of streets and the Wilkie District Fire Association. There was time for questions about each topic, as well as a time for general questions at the end of the evening.
Wilkie Medical Clinic & Wilkie Health Centre
Councillor Clark Jackson, chair of the health committee, explained the situation with doctor availability in Wilkie. He acknowledged the “last few years have been very trying.”
Currently, four doctors work out of the Wilkie Medical Clinic, with the different doctors working various days of the week. Dr. Bloem only looks after Poplar Courts and Bethany patients, while the other doctors also work in other communities. This, said Jackson, makes it “kind of hard to get the doctors here for more days.”
The committee is currently working on a replacement for Dr. Kazar, whose last day will be May 31.
A number of services are still available at the Wilkie Health Centre, with visiting professionals including a dietician, diabetic nurse educator, public health nurse and mental health and addictions counsellor, all based on appointments. X-ray and lab and a foot care worker are also available. As well, the doctors arrange to deliver outpatient services, as needed, at the health centre.
After the Town of Wilkie took over the medical clinic, Dec. 16, 2022, a number of improvements were made including new flooring, repainting and purchasing new exam tables. Total cost was approximately $43,000, while the annual cost to keep the office running is about $65,000.
The Saskatchewan Health Authority rent rebate, donations and capital contributions, as well as contributions from a rural municipality, help offset much of the annual cost.
Jackson said having gone from having a dedicated doctor like Dr. Kemp to the current situation has been difficult. On the plus side, “For the longest time, we have at least had a doctor here every day of the week.”
He is hopeful with the help of SHA and Dr. Williams, they will not be left short with Dr. Kazar’s departure although “Doctor recruitment is a challenge. Every province is head-hunting.”
In response to a question from the audience about re-opening the health centre, Mayor David Zeigler said, when they talk to the government, the government points to SHA and when they talk to SHA, they point to the government. “I guess we’ll just keep pounding the pavement with them,” he said, adding they are fortunate to have regular meetings with both SHA and the ministry.
New Swimming Pool
Lori Fenrich, Wilkie recreation director and economic development officer, showed the audience a projection of what the new Wilkie swimming pool would look like. The pool will have beach entry, a paddling pool area and a water slide.
In conjunction with the construction of the pool, a 4,000-square-foot change house will be built which will have change rooms for men, women and families. Blueprints for the change house are being finalized and then it will be put out for tender.
In designing both the pool and the change house, consultations have been held with Prairie Branches to ensure the pool can be used by everyone in the community.
Fenrich said the town was awarded federal and provincial grants totalling $1.9 million through the Investing in Canadian Infrastructure program. As the total cost will be $2.6 million, approximately $757,000 has to be raised locally. She encouraged everyone to support the pool and keep a lookout for fundraisers.
Zeigler said the location of the new pool will be on Seventh Avenue, near McLurg High School, right beside the outdoor community rink. “For a community of this size, it’s going to be impressive once it’s up and running.”
One resident said he didn’t necessarily want a pool in his backyard. He was worried about people potentially cutting through yards to get to the pool and asked if neighbouring residents had been consulted. “We should have a say on where this pool goes.”
Zeigler responded by saying they thought it would be a good location for school programs, and that the current pool also has neighbours. He said, “We’ve got grant money available and we utilized it. And I think once it’s up and running, I don’t know if there will be a big concern.” He added, probably no matter where the pool was built, not everybody would be happy.
Eunice Washkowky, having both lived and worked near the area, said she has often observed the kids on bikes and kids walking. “Watching those kids is sometimes really scary and now we’re adding more traffic.” She asked if traffic was going to be re-routed or a walkway added.
Fenrich thanked her for bringing that to their attention, and said the town will look into options.
Tina Drummond rose to comment, saying 14 years ago one of the reasons they moved to Wilkie was because there was a pool within walking distance for her kids. She also highlighted the library and the co-op grocery store.
Drummond said, “We can see what happens to communities that don’t come together and start going elsewhere and we have this amazing opportunity for this daycare, for the swimming pool … Sometimes we focus on the negative but we need to focus on the positive.” Summing up by saying “we need to embrace change” and support the people working on residents’ behalf, Drummond left the microphone to a round of applause.
Paving of Streets
Councillor David Dornstauder started with the history of residential paving in Wilkie, saying the majority happened in 1988-89 when 40 blocks were paved at a total cost of $760,000. The homeowner portion was about $400,000.
To pave a street today requires 16 steps under The Local Improvements Act 1993 to be completed before actual paving can begin. Last year, the town never got past the first step for the Fifth West project – the first step being authorizing the work to be done as a local improvement. A petition stopped the process right after that.
Meanwhile the people in the office were preparing everything for all the other steps, such as drafting bylaws, organizing tendering the work, seeking the approval of the Saskatchewan Municipal Board and so forth. The engineering was also done, in order to be ready. That was a cost of over $34,000.
“We still have the engineering plans, but that money hasn’t been used for its intended purposes,” pointed out Dornstauder.
Meanwhile other things go on behind the scenes. Fortunately, in Wilkie, all of the water mains have already been replaced. Sanitary sewer mains and storm sewers have all been inspected. The worst of the sewer mains have been replaced and sewers in bad condition have either been replaced or plans are in the works to do so.
Substrate sampling is done one block at a time, with Fifth West done. Core samples are taken down to about a five-metre depth.
Curbs, gutters and sidewalks need to be built, which has been done in the town with only minor repairs and ongoing maintenance needed.
For a number of years, sand sealing in different areas was done at a cost of $20,000 a year. That extended the life of the pavement from 20 years to almost 35, but eventually, sand sealing is no longer effective.
So instead, pavement patching is undertaken every year, currently costing about $25,000 annually, just in materials. That cost is only going to increase, said Dornstauder.
In moving on to specifically discuss the 2022 proposed paving project, which was to be done last year, Dornstauder said there has already been a lot of money invested with underground work such as sanitary and sewer mains being replaced in 2018 as part of a $630,000 project. However, with 35 of 46 owners petitioning against the project, the paving of Fourth and Fifth West was stopped at step one of the 16 local improvement steps.
Going forward, costs will constantly be increasing to just maintain pavement. Furthermore, as pavement deteriorates, it is harder to sweep, grade and remove snow. Dornstauder is particularly concerned about further compromising of the substrate material with water soaking into the grounds beneath the streets.
Meanwhile, to repave, costs are also steadily increasing. What cost $140 for a meter of pavement in 2002 was $367 in 2012 and $466 in 2022. Looking to the future, the projected estimate for 2032 is $720 per meter. “It’s not going to get cheaper,” said Dornstauder.
He then presented options. Wilkie could stay with the status quo until the situation becomes such that a group of residents view the pavement issue as a “need” instead of a “want.” At that point, residents can canvass their neighbours and approach the town once they have the numbers to warrant a local improvement.
Dornstauder said, “To me that makes a lot more sense than putting in $50,000 worth of work or replacing everything under the ground … It really bothers me to spend $34,000 on engineering that doesn’t get used.
“Or we can return the roads to gravel. And we’re just about there on some of our avenues already … not real nice to drive on. And those aren’t going to get better. So at some point, we have to do one of these things.”
He suggested residents look at the streets in their area and talk to their neighbours, whether for this year, next year or the year after. The town can provide the background information for those discussions.
“Are we all going to buck up or let everything go to hell?” he asked.
Wilkie and District Fire Association
Alex Majewski spoke about the Wilkie and District Fire Association, explaining that in January 2022, the Town of Wilkie and the Rural Fire Association signed an agreement to amalgamate with the fire departments of the Town of Scott and the RMs of Reford, Buffalo and Tramping Lake.
Currently there are 17 active members, with Randy Elder as chief and Craig Sittler as assistant chief. A new fire truck was delivered to Wilkie in the spring of 2023. The association provides an offensive operations service, not just defensive, which means they have air packs and can go into burning buildings.
In the fall of 2023, the Wilkie firefighters had two days of transportation extraction training. After the training, $90,000 worth of new equipment – which they had just trained on – was left with the association, a big plus for the local fire departments.
Stacy Hawkins was acknowledged. After many years as administrator, first with the Rural Fire Association and most recently with the amalgamated association, she will be leaving at the end of the year. The board is looking for someone to replace her.
In the past year, the fire department had 21 callouts, including motor vehicle accidents and grass fires. “It’s nice to know that, even though we’re a fairly small department, that they’re available on call,” said Majewski.
Issues raised by members of the audience included the fact that Wilkie has no emergency measures officer. Majewski said the town has been advertising for someone to fill that position, however more than one audience member said they had never seen such advertising.
Another issue raised was the contents of trains going through town and what would happen in the event of a derailment. There was disagreement as to who would be in charge and at what point information about the contents of the railcars could or would be disclosed.
“Safety should be more of a priority,” said one resident and Majewski agreed the emergency measures plan does need to be updated.
Suki Pangalia went to the microphone to say that when he first arrived in Wilkie two years ago, he was warmly welcomed but he did not find the same welcome when he joined the fire department. He complained of racism on the part of the leadership and asked if the town would resume jurisdiction over the fire department. The answer was no, the town would simply remain as a member of the association. He was asked to write a letter to the 10-member board.
Kayla Slind then rose to say her husband was a member of the department and she was confident in the training and leadership.
When the floor was open to general questions, there was an extensive discussion – with no clear answers – about what could be done to retain registered nurses at the Wilkie Health Centre.
