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Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Issue 30
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY SINCE 1903
www.estevanmercury.ca
Mailing No. 10769 | Publication No. 40069240
Fire department has moved to new fire hall By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
After nearly a year of work and renovations, the Estevan Fire Rescue Service has moved into its new home on 13th Avenue in Estevan. The fire department was able to relocate its turnout gear, fire trucks and other rescue equipment into the building on Nov. 18, enabling it to begin operations out of the building. The fire department was waiting for the locksmith and contractor to finish and secure the apparatus floor before moving the equipment. Fire Chief Dale Feser said the move went well, and the firefighters worked hard to get the building ready for the equipment to be moved over. “The firefighters have put in thousands and thousands of volunteered hours,” said Feser. “These guys are not getting paid to do this, to ensure that we are keeping the costs low when
it comes to both doing the transition and the relocation into the new fire hall. “Whenever we have a lot of available manpower, we’re definitely going to take advantage of that and get them doing something over here.” The offices for Feser, Deputy Chief Rick Davies and administrative assistant Rhonda Gillespie have also been shifted over. The fire department has been busy since relocating its operations over from the old fire hall on Third Street, as it has responded to eight calls, as of Monday afternoon. “We are extremely excited to be operational in our new location here,” said Feser. “Of course, there is still a lot of elbow grease and work to be done here yet, but we are functional both with our offices as well as emergency response of the apparatus floor as well.” Some additional rooms still need to be constructed for the apparatus floor, in-
Estevan Fire Chief Dale Feser stands next to one of the fire trucks in the bay of Estevan’s new fire hall. The fire department has moved its operation, fire trucks and turnout gear to the hall. cluding an air compressor fill room and a room to clean and dry the turnout gear. And there is some work remaining for painting
and tidying up the building. There is little that remains at the old fire hall. A lot of the antiquities are still upstairs. Those historical
items will be part of displays in the front entrance of the new fire hall. A fire prevention and public education area will also be out
front for public education purposes. “I am looking at trying to involve a lot of our retired A2 » MOTORISTS
Pam Currie steps down from Cornerstone board A long-time school board trustee for Estevan has announced she is stepping down from the South East Cornerstone Public School Division’s board. Pam Currie resigned from the board at the Nov. 22 meeting in Weyburn. Currie had 20 years of school board experience, serving as a member of the Estevan Public School Board from 1997 to 2005, and then as one of two Estevan representatives on the Cornerstone board from 2006 until her resignation. She had to step down because she and her husband Paul are moving to Esterhazy to be closer to their family. Esterhazy falls outside of the Cornerstone boundaries. “I was happy to serve on the board all these years because I felt it was important to get Estevan’s point across at the table,” Currie said. “I thought, I hoped, I was doing good things and
I spoke up when I figured it was necessary to do so.” A by-election will be needed to fill Currie’s seat. Shelley Toth, the division’s chief financial officer, has been designated as the returning officer for the byelection. The deadline to file nominations will be Jan. 31, 2018, and if a by-election is needed, it would take place on March 7 of next year. Currie had fulfilled one year of the four-year commitment, so the successful candidate would be required to complete the term. Currie said when she decided to run in the 2016 school board election, she and her husband weren’t looking to relocate out of Estevan, so she decided to run again. She was elected via acclamation, along with new trustee Shari Sutter, who replaced another experienced trustee, Janet Foord. Foord didn’t run in last year’s election because she had also moved out of the
school division. Currie said the current board has some challenging times because of what’s happening in education. “The current board will be able to get through it, I’m sure and I really enjoyed being with these board members and appreciated their company,” she said. “I think, for the most part, we were able to complement one another. We didn’t always agree on all the tough decisions, but that’s fine, that’s how it should be sometimes.” Currie said she got involved in education governance over 20 years ago, with experienced trustees such as Shirley Batters, Linda Perry, Ron Jickling and the late Gerry Muir already present. They served as valuable mentors. When she was elected for the first time in 1997, she was the mother of a 10-year-old and a sevenyear-old. Both she and her
husband worked full-time jobs. “But how can one not be passionate about children, education and our future?” she said. Currie was named to the Estevan Comprehensive School’s board, which also included trustees from the former Estevan Rural School Board (now part of South East Cornerstone) and the former Estevan Roman Catholic Separate School Board (now part of Holy Family). She believes they did good things together. “One of them was the organizing and running of the chem-free grad party on grad night,” said Currie. “It was a very big feat to do, but was very well worth it to be able to keep them all together on grad night and in a safe and fun environment.” Chem-free continued after the public and rural board were amalgamated
Pam Currie into South East Cornerstone. When the forced amalgamations happened in Saskatchewan 12 years ago, Currie said it was very difficult and boards felt that they would lose their identity, autonomy and local decision making ability. So she wanted to be a local trustee on the board. There were challenges at first, but the boards did eventually come together. “I was always very
vocal and expressed how I felt about making the tough decisions at this new board table,” said Currie. “Eventually we started to find our way and worked together in our new amalgamated world and made good decisions for kids, staff and ratepayers.” Currie said it has been a pleasure to serve on the Cornerstone board, as there are talented and experienced people at the table and staff doing hard work.
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