Neepawa Titans launch season ticket sales effort

Among all the new player signings and the addition of staff at the Head Office, the Neepawa Titans Junior ‘A” Hockey Club is forging ahead with plans for the 2023-24 season. Season

Tickets are now on sale for $140 for the 28 home games. For a limited time, until Father’s Day on June 18, the purchase price includes a $40 coupon that can be used to purchase team hats, clothing and merchandise at a borrowing of $100,000. While Baraniuk is happy with the project finally going ahead, there are still funds needed to increase the paved area to what was originally planned. the Team Store. Tickets can be purchased at the Titans Sales office in the Neepawa Banner&Press or by calling 1-431-351-2274 or emailing neepawatitans. marketing@gmail.com

At long last, the Erickson Airport paving project has been given the green light by Clanwilliam-Erickson council, with construction to take place in 2023. The project was identified as a priority in 2018, after a pavement condition assessment showed that all paved surfaces were approaching failure, and aircraft were at risk of being damaged. Since then, the Municipality has been engaged in a virtual tug-of-war, trying to boost federal and provincial grant funding for the project in a time of extreme inflation.

Building Fund (CCBF, formerly known as the gas tax fund) to increase the federal contribution above and beyond the amount in the ICIP grant.

“We were very happy to receive this additional flexibility with the federal funding, as it allowed us the ability to move ahead even in the face of adversity” said Victor Baraniuk, Clanwilliam-Erickson’s Reeve. “Infrastructure improvements like this are never free, but without being able to use the CCBF money, it would have been completely unaffordable, and that would have meant wasting the once-in-a-lifetime ICIP grant”.

Neepawa Titans Vicepresident Jamie Denbow said, “ The team is doing a lot of things to restructure the team in order to set ourselves up for the success we experienced in the 1990’s. As such we are offering 1990’s pricing on our tickets. We want to offer our fans a great value for their support. The season ticket price is at a very economical point and the Team Store coupon is a limited time bonus we are offering our fans”.

The Municipality received a grant in 2021 from the federal-provincial Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP), totaling 93.3 per cent of an initial project budget of $1,417,565, with the remaining 6.7 per cent to be paid by a municipal borrowing. Unfortunately, the rise in energy prices in 2022 led to the cost of asphalt soaring well above the initial budgeted amount. The Municipality tendered the project in the fall of 2022, and the low bid was $2.28 million. Without additional funding available, the Municipality proposed to reduce costs by shortening the runway and removing the taxiway and apron from the project. Rather than accept the reduced scope, the contractor opted to withdraw their bid, and the Municipality was forced to re-tender the project in the winter of 2023.

In the meantime, good news came from the federal government as it was apparent that ICIP projects across the country were finding it impossible to proceed in this time of inflation. The Municipality was informed that they could now use the Canada Community

Inflation continues to impact the project, and retendering with a reduced scope resulted in a low bid of $1,908,358. After adopting their annual Financial Plan, the Municipality voted to accept the bid, using a combination of ICIP and CCBF grants, Airport and General Reserve funds, and

“We are going to need over $400,000 to increase the runway’s length to the original 3,000 feet and pave the taxiway”, Baraniuk said. “We are optimistic that this is possible, as we have applied for a $300,000 grant from the Building Sustainable Communities program. We also know that there are many community stakeholders who want to support this project, and that’s why we are going to be issuing charitable tax receipts for donations to the project.”

One of the community stakeholders that has pledged support for the airport is the Elkhorn Resort and Conference Centre – promising to top-up every donation received by 20%, up to the total donation goal of $105,000. “This is a tremendous contribution by a local business”, said Baraniuk. “It highlights that the airport serves the wider region, not only our municipality. From tourism, to agriculture, to emergency services like STARS helicopters, this airport is valuable, and you never know when you’re going to need it or benefit from it. We hope that more members of the broader community, stakeholders who may not necessarily pay taxes in our municipality, will come forward and provide assistance so that we can continue to operate the service.”