review
weyburn Vol.114 No. 50 - Weyburn, Saskatchewan Wednesday, December 11, 2024 - 10 Pages
Local wrestlers compete
FINAL WEEK!
Young Fellows Club donates
Christmas Cash
Twenty-six wrestlers participated at Weyburn’s home tournament. Page 7
The Weyburn Young Fellows Club made a number of Christmas donations recently. Page 9 $1.25 (Includes GST)
Page 10
Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 40069240 Publication Mail Registration No. 09093
Weyburn RM’s new reeve up for the challenge
Leading the Honour Band in concert
Photo – Greg Nikkel, SaskToday.ca
Band director Jeff Lunde, at right, conducted the Honour Band at the Christmas band concert at St. Michael School on Wednesday evening.The concert also featured the jazz band, and the Grade 7, Grade 8 and Grade 9 bands, with standing-room only in the school gym to hear the music performances.
City of Weyburn to close Queen Street rail crossing By Greg Nikkel, SaskToday.ca Weyburn city council gave first reading to a bylaw to close the Queen Street rail crossing, due to safety concerns and plans for widening of Highway 39 to accommodate a new round-about at the intersection of Highways 13 and 39. Council was told the crossing does not meet Transport Canada’s standards, and there were recommendations made in 2016 and 2019 to close that access to Highway 39. This is the only rail crossing in Weyburn’s city limits that has had train-vehicle collisions since 2017, and since 2010, there have been 10 collisions, the most recent one on Nov. 6. Design work on the proposed round-about began in 2022, and in November of this year, the Ministry of Highways issued a tender for twinning of Highway 39 and building the round-about, with a closing date of late December. Once the rail crossing is closed, Queen Street will be a dead-end that will go up to the south property line of A&B Concrete. Coun. Ryan Janke said his main concern is one of timing, as he didn’t want to see the crossing closed by March but nothing built for the round-about until 2027. City engineer Renee Cugnet said a condition of the tender is that construction is to begin with the widening of Highway 39. She noted also the department of Highways is to assume all costs of the construction, and are coordinating with CPKC Rail. Coun. John Corrigan asked if the City has any real choice in the matter, and Cugnet pointed out that with the widening of the highway, it will go right up to the rightof-way for the rail crossing, so it will happen regardless. The City still has a number of administrative steps to take to close the crossing, including giving public notice, notice to the Crown utilities
in case of any utilities that might be under the road, and a public hearing will be held by council at their next meeting on Jan. 13, 2025. Formal consent from the Ministry of Highways will be needed for the closure, and once received, the bylaw will be passed and signage will be put up to indicate a dead-end for Queen Street with no access to Highway 39. • In other council business, the city will make a counter-offer for the sale of six city-owned residential lots on McTaggart Drive at a reduced price. Wally Maurer proposed buying the six lots for a total price of $180,000 plus taxes, and the show home incentive program be implemented, where a show home will be built on one of the lots, and homes are to be built on the other lots within the next four years. In making the motion
for the counter-offer, Coun. Janke added that this is part of the city’s strategy to get out of the business of selling residential lots. Coun. Corrigan agreed, and noted the city has a number of other lots around the city that have been sitting idle. “It’s time to remove these from our inventory,” Coun. Janke noted he is conflicted on this, as by selling lots at a reduced price they are undercutting someone else. “There is no easy obvious answer here, but selling these lots and considering offers is the best move right now,” he added. • An update on the Leisure Centre was provided by Andrew Crowe, director of leisure services, noting they have requests for proposals out for options to repair or replace the indoor pool. The pool had to be closed as they found they were los-
ing about 13,000 litres a day, and ground-penetrating radar determined that the rebar in the concrete basin of the pool is damaged, causing a structural failure in the basin. The hope is that options can be brought to council by the first meeting of February. Once options are available to consider, the City will have community engagement so that the public and pool user groups can have input as to what the best option will be for the pool. “We know how important the pool is to the community, so we want to make sure they are part of the process,” said Crowe. Meantime, the Leisure Centre will remain closed until they are able to open the outdoor pool next springsummer. “It’s unfortunate there was nothing we could’ve done maintenance-wise to prevent this,” said Crowe.
By Greg Nikkel, SaskToday.ca The RM of Weyburn’s new reeve, Bud Grohn, is finding out he has a steep learning curve as he dives into his new role of leading council. He defeated incumbent Norm McFadden in the Nov. 13 municipal election, and is now beginning to learn the ropes of his new role as reeve. This was Grohn’s first foray into politics as a candidate, and was joined by two other new candidates along with three veterans of the RM council. “I ran on the premise that people need to get involved. Watching the world go by is just not an option,” said Grohn in an interview on Monday. “If you question the status quo, then you need to get involved.” In the campaign, he said one of the biggest concerns brought up to him was about the Airport Road to North Weyburn. “I want ratepayers to know it will be resolved, as well as the rest of our roads, water utilities, along with transparency and equity,” said Grohn, noting he heard a lot of concerns from acreage owners that they feel they are paying a lot of taxes for the amount of services they get. “I feel a definite push for ‘being open for business’ coming into our RM, but proper research and vetting must be achieved,” he said. In regard to Enbridge’s proposal for wind turbines in the RM, the municipality put forward a resolution at the recent SARM convention, and the resolution was passed with over 90 per cent in favour. The resolution asks SARM to lobby the provincial government to put standards and regulations in place for wind turbine projects, as there currently aren’t any, and if the province isn’t willing to do that, then there should be a moratorium in place on any new wind turbine projects until there are regulations in place for municipalities to follow. Grohn noted in the bearpit session with members of cabinet, a number of RMs spoke about problems they have had with wind turbine projects in their areas. “I was elected and I have a job to do. I will
Reeve Bud Grohn look at the project based on the facts,” said Grohn, noting he will be at the public meeting on Wednesday night, to be hosted by Enbridge at McKenna Hall. Since the election, he and the RM council have had two meetings so far, and Grohn said the second one went very well. He admits there is “a huge learning curve” as he learns about what’s all involved, from the RM’s bylaws to how to run meetings. The council will also be putting their 2025 budget together, and he noted he will have to review last year’s budget as they decide on next year’s priorities. The reeve noted there is a good mix of returning councillors and new ones. Chad Culham and Doug Dembiczak join him as new members of council, while Josh Mainil, Jeromy Charlton and Dustin Bell all have two years left in their terms. “There will always be disagreements, and differences of opinion, but that’s what makes good decisions too,” said Grohn. “People have different perspectives on things, and I’m okay with that.” Considering everything he needs to learn for his new role, Grohn said, “It’s almost overwhelming, because there is so much to learn about.” He went into the election with the thought he could win, and did some preparation and research into such areas as community planning. “It’s definitely a challenge, and I’m looking forward to the challenge. My goal is to leave the RM in better shape than what it is right now. I’m not saying the RM is in bad shape, but I want to have a positive impact going forward,” said Grohn.
Peeking out from the igloo
Elias and Gracie Mainil peeked out from the doorway to their ice-block igloo, built by their dad Josh on the front lawn of their Barber Crescent home in Weyburn. Photo – Greg Nikkel, SaskToday.ca