The final City of Martensville August Council meeting was held on Tuesday the 20th and covered a wide variety of topics. To kick things off, a delegation from Kilpatrick Fly Fishers took place. Levi Kalinksky spoke to Council about wanting to create a partnership with the City of Martensville and the Ministry of Environment to aerate the pond in Kinsmen Park so trout can survive the winter and a fishery with quality sized trout can develop. “We hope to develop a working relationship with city council to get other ponds stocked by the Ministry of Environment and to get funding from the Saskatchewan Fish and Wildlife Development Fund to purchase aeration equipment for the ponds in town,” Kilpatrick Fly Fishers stated in their request to Council.
Matt Gruza, Director of Infrastructure and Planning spoke to Council about the odour issues at the lagoon and noted that additional aeration was ordered and installed. “In the week since the installation of the new aerators, the dissolved oxygen content in the primary lagoon treatment cells has more than doubled,” Gruza noted in his report. Additionally, a meeting was held on August 15th with Nexom, Catterall and Wright and representatives from the City to discuss the operation and maintenance of the new aeration lines. Gruza also mentioned that meetings are ongoing regarding the water supply line and wastewater effluent line project with Saskatoon.
Council approved the partial closure of Centennial Drive to accommodate the annual Show n’ Shine for the Martensville A&W Valley Street Stock 100, taking place on September 7th. The event brings out approximately 80-110 vehicles each year for local residents to walk the street and view. This year, the event will be taking place on September 7th.
The Prairie Sky Chamber of Commerce (PSCC) will be hosting the first ever ‘Ignite Excellence Business Summit, which will be taking place on November 7th in Warman. This event will be a one-day conference style event aimed at business and community leaders as well as entrepreneurs. This will be an annual event which will alternate between Martensville and Warman each year. The PSCC requested that the City of Martensville participate in this event as a Venue Sponsor, which would include a donation of $650.00 for 2019, and in 2020, when the event is held in Martensville, an in-kind provision of a facility.
Council also discussed a request regarding the sanitary sewer replacement for 3rd Avenue South. Due to a lack of snow-cover and periods of extreme cold weather this past winter, an area of 3rd Ave S experienced numerous freeze-ups and upon inspection, crews discovered that there was a significant amount of settlement in the sewer main, which was causing water to pool and freeze, reducing the capacity of the sewer main and causing sewer backups to some properties. Matt Gruza recommended that this section of sanitary sewer be replaced and Council requested that the project be tendered out. The lowest bid that came in was 30% higher than anticipated, and since this is an unbudgeted project the funds would come from the Utility Reserve account.
The agenda also included a discussion regarding the sale of a portion of cemetery land along Township Road 384 to the RM of Corman Park in order for the road to be paved. The RM requires additional land on both the north and south sides of the road to facilitate the paving. The road widening will include improved drainage ditches and moving the existing power lines south. The section of land that the RM of Corman Park requested is approximately 13.8m along the northern property line and was originally requested for a total of $1. When previously brought to Council, it was asked that more information be provided as to what other landowners in the area were selling their land for, which worked out to be $4500/acre. The RM offered to purchase the land from the City of Martensville for the same rate as the other landowners, which would be approximately $1800 but Council agreed to approve the sale of the land for $1.
