The final City of Martensville Council meeting for May was held on Tuesday, May 21st and covered a wide range of items. A total of nine motions were brought to the meeting.
The meeting kicked off with the City Manager’s report, where each department head presented an update to Council. Scott Blevins, City Manager, noted that they are reviewing a draft Request for proposals (RFP) for pre-construction contractor services on the new recreation facility. They are hoping to issue the RFP by the end of this month. In the Recreation & Community Services department, it was noted that the Martensville Athletic Pavilion would be closed from June 24 – July 7 for floor refinishing. Matt Gruza, the Director of Infrastructure and Planning informed Council that after weeks of thawing, the lagoon effluent line is now open and is discharging.
City Council then adopted the Senior Functional Plan that was presented by D. James Leier of Preferred Choice Development Strategies at the May 7th City Council meeting. This plan will be put in place to help improve the options within Martensville for seniors aging in place as the community’s population continues to grow.
Additionally, Council approved a request from the Martensville & District Lions Club to enter into an agreement for the construction and financing of a shade/shelter in Lions Park near the Spray Pool. With this agreement, the Lions Club would pay back the funds provided by the City over a period no longer than five years.
The allocation for the 2019/2020 Sask Lottery Grant Funding was provided to Council by Director of Recreation & Community Services Ted Schaeffer. This included funds being provided to various community organizations, schools and sporting groups.
Also approved was a request from Schaeffer regarding rental rates for Martensville facilities. Typically, the rental rates are reviewed annually; however, Schaeffer requested that Council consider setting the new rates to be in place for a three year period from 2020-2022, with North Ridge Community Centre’s rates being set in place from 2021-2023. The proposed rate schedule included several items including; an annual increase of 2% to rental fees in all facilities, daily rental rates to be set at a 10 x hourly rate for Map rentals, no increase to annual MAP memberships for 2020-22 and more.
At the May 14th Committee of the Whole meeting, Alisa Borowsky attended to speak about proposed plans for a Residential Care Home Type II project. The development would include converting a private residence into a Seniors Care Home at 6 – 1st Avenue North. Once completed, the home would include a 14 bed licensed residential care home for seniors and would provide 24-hour care with 6-8 full time staff. City of Martensville Community Economic Development Manager, Dillon Shewchuk, explained that, “as recently outlined in the Seniors Housing and Care Functional Plan, the study indicated that based on our population, currently the community has capacity for 28 Long Term care beds (age 75+). This development helps fill an identified need in our community.” Borowsky applied for an Economic Development Tax Incentive for five years for the proposed project. Although the project does not fit the typical parameters of the Incentive Bylaw, Shewchuk recommended that City Council approve the request, stating that, “what is being proposed is to base an incentive on the change of value of assessment. The incentive would be based on the difference between the new assessment after the changes to the property and the original assessment prior to changes in the property.” Council appeared to be in favor of this request, which will be brought back to an upcoming meeting for formal approval.
To view agendas for upcoming meetings, or for more information on Council, visit www.martensville.ca. The next Council meeting will be held Tuesday, June 4th at 5pm in Council Chambers, located within City Hall.
