KAMSACK — At its regular meeting of March 23, Kamsack town council discussed the Broda Sportsplex upon the closure of the skating and curling rinks for the season, the possible involvement with a district alliance and the decommissioning of the community’s old landfill.
A successful Easter egg hunt and open public skate event was held on March 31 at the Broda Sportsplex, said Barry Hvidston, chief administrative officer. This event was well attended and served as the end-of-season celebration.
Council discussed the facility’s leaking roof, its cleanliness and off-season work, which will be further discussed at the budget, he said, explaining that with the number of hockey teams having increased this season and with the revitalized curling clubs, there was a recognizable increase in the number of people using the facility this winter.
Council was asked to consider becoming involved in the Central Prairie Development Alliance, said Mayor Beth Dix, who explained that she and Fitz Shaw, director of Recreation and Community Development, had attended a meeting of the alliance.
“We thought it was fantastic,” Dix said of the meeting, adding that the provincial government is more apt to provide funding to regional organizations working together with similar priorities.
Basically, the Alliance has municipalities partnering with Suncrest College in order to share such information as programming and funding. The communities of Yorkton and Melville are involved, as well as the two First Nation communities north of Kamsack and several urban and rural municipalities. It would cost $1,000 a year to participate and would involve four meetings a year. The matter was put for consideration at the budget deliberations.
Asked to provide funds for ultrasound equipment for the Yorkton Regional Hospital, the council denied the request, saying that Kamsack had recently acquired ultrasound equipment for the Assiniboine Medical Centre.
Council agreed to provide tax-exempt status to the Kamsack Playhouse for five years.
Hvidston outlined plans for the decommissioning of its old landfall and said that the tendering process is about to start. The decommissioning involves levelling the dump site, hauling clay to cover the refuse, re-shaping the hill, covering it with topsoil and seeding a cover.
The project is estimated to cost between $1 million and $1.3 million and must be completed this year to use the ICIP (Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program) grant, which pays for over 70 per cent of the cost. The grant expires next spring.
Members discussed the Spring Fling dance that is to be held April 4 at the mezzanine in the Broda Sportsplex.
Partnering with the Town for the hosting of the event are community members Natalie Rauckman and Courtney Maitland, Shaw said. “Residents have expressed the need for more social activity, hence we are trying to achieve that mandate with this early spring event. Formal dresswear is encouraged with proceeds from the event slated to go towards future recreation programming for the Town.”
The Better Together working group plans to hold a street health fair at the top of Main Street in Kamsack on June 3, Shaw said. In addition to the Saskatchewan Health Authority, participants include the police, Town of Kamsack, Cote and Keeseekoose First Nations and SIGN (Society for Good Neighbours).
The street fair would be an information event with such things as on-site testing and medical professionals in attendance. The event will include a march through the community with the theme of “Better Together.”
Ambur Hrooshkin, the community development officer, said that on March 31, she learned that her application to receive funding from the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation was successful.
With the funding, plans are to hire Katey Vanin of Thorhild County, Alta., who has a familial connection to Pelly. She is an arborist who specializes in fruiting trees and shrubs.
Vanin will be coming to Kamsack in June to work with the community, including the Kamsack Horticultural Society and schools. She will hold workshops and will lead planting sessions at the urban orchard. Plans are to acquire more trees and replace dead ones. She will help the community to plant new varieties of plums, pears, apples and a different type of raspberries, all of which will be hardy in this zone, in addition to developing a long-term maintenance plan for the orchard.
Workshops on orchard care and tree planting will be open to the public, Hrooshkin said. As an arborist, Vanin will be a role model and will demonstrate that such work can become a viable career, while providing new industry knowledge to members of the community.
Vanin’s visit is only the first phase of a greening of Kamsack, she said. “We’ll be putting the garden back into the Garden of Saskatchewan.”
