ESTEVAN - Estevan city council supports having a discussion regarding higher speed limits at three entrances to the city.
Council received a request from the RM of Estevan to lobby the provincial government to increase speed limits at Highway 47 from Township Road 25 to the Estevan truck bypass, Highway 39 west from the weigh scales to Nelson Motors and Equipment, and Highway 39 from Range Road 2080 to Cervus Equipment.
The desired speed limit was not specified in the RMs letter, but Mayor Roy Ludwig noted it is 80 kilometres per hour for the areas on Highway 39 from city limits to the truck bypass access.
Coun. Kirsten Walliser suggested the report should be directed to the South East Transportation Planning Committee instead of going to the province. Coun. Lindsay Clark, who is the city's representative on the committee, said part of their mandate is safety, and suggested the motion from the city could be forwarded to the committee.
Coun. Travis Frank said he has spoken with residents about the issue, and some have said they like it the way it is, and others want to see it changed. He suggested sending a letter asking the province to review the speed limits in those three corridors rather than outright increase the legal limit.
"I think there's probably a lot of conversation that should happen with a lot of residents, and I don't want us just to full-on say I'm in favour of increasing it, but I would be happy to have the province, as well as the city and RM, have a little bit of collaboration and review on that," said Frank.
Ludwig noted that Estevan MLA Lori Carr, who is also the minister of Highways and Infrastructure, is slated to come to a council meeting in September, and he suggested council could ask her about the issue at that time.
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The city will receive $85,525 through the Transit Assistance for People with Disabilities Program for the provincial 2024-25 fiscal year.
Each community that participates in the TAPD program receives a per-trip amount for the eligible public service trips provided during the previous calendar year that were reported at the time of the grant application. The per trip amounts used in the formula are based on the population of the municipality.
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Council approved its new video surveillance policy. In a report, city clerk Judy Pilloud wrote the policy's goal is to guarantee that the correct procedures will be followed for handling, accessing and viewing video surveillance recordings inside city properties. The policy aims to provide for consistent management of the information collected by the video surveillance programs.
Coun. Rebecca Foord noted that since the Estevan Police Service building is a city-owned facility and they have their own surveillance measures, the police station should be regarded as having its own separate and distinct policy.
The full policy can be found on the city's website.
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Water and wastewater services manager Matt Angell provided a brief update on issues recently detected with the city's water supply. The city has had a number of phone calls regarding the taste and odour, and he said when the algae in Rafferty starts to grow, the issue occurs. It happens elsewhere in the province, and Regina the issue can linger the entire summer. In Estevan, he said it lasts a few weeks.
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Four permits worth $1.42 million were issued in June, bringing the total for the year to 20 permits worth more than $5.76 million.
Three permits worth $1.375 million were listed as miscellaneous, and one for $45,000 was institutional.
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During the inquiries portion of the meeting, Coun. Shelly Veroba asked about dirt being stored in the wetlands area near the cemetery. A person she spoke with noted the wetlands are slowly disappearing and Veroba wants to know why.
Meanwhile, Coun. Lindsay Clark noted that following the June hail and wind storm, one person had to take a lot of branches to the city landfill and pay a fee. Clark wanted to know if those fees could be dropped after a big weather event.
City manager Jeff Ward said council would need to discuss a weight limit for trees and branches, and Ludwig said parameters would need to be put in place for the magnitude of the storm.
