Discussions ranged from the size of municipalities to the perennial topic of daylight savings time at the recently-concluded convention of the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA), with most votes going the way Weyburn city council wanted them to.

Some of the speakers to SUMA delegates, besides most of the provincial cabinet, included TV journalist Pamela Wallin and Prof. Joe Garcea, chairman of the provincial task force looking into the laws governing municipalities.

Garcea made a presentation on some of the findings of the task force to this point. Some discussion also arose about a seperate survey making the rounds of the province regarding the number and size of municipalities, school boards and health boards, said Deputy Mayor Marlene Nedelcov.

Noting some municipalities are wary of proposed amalgamations, Deputy Mayor Nedelcov commented, "Something has to happen. People don't like change, and changes have to happen."

Municipal Government Minister Clay Serby was among the many cabinet ministers to put in an appearance. He only briefly touched on the issues surrounding task force, as he's awaiting Garcea's report.

"He didn't really want to get into it too much. He's hoping (amalgamations) will happen voluntarily, but I don't think that will happen. It will probably have to be legislated. It's a question of the dollars it's costing (to run municipalities). People will live where the services are," said the deputy mayor.

Weyburn city council agreed with a number of votes which were passed, including a resolution asking for outstanding utility bills to be added to property taxes and a resolution calling for the ability to transfer tax arrears to other properties owned by the property owner.

A resolution asking the government to remove the requirement of local municipalities to contribute five per cent of the cost of social housing was defeated by the SUMA delegates, which Weyburn's councillors were also in agreement with.

"We feel the social housing program is important, and it might not happen if we didn't contribute to it. Then you also have some say in it," said Nedelcov.

The debate on daylight savings time arose once more this year and was again defeated, which the deputy mayor was pleased about, although not all of council agreed with her stand.

A resolution the city was against, asking for approval to charge municipal residents a fee for firefighting services, had no seconder and therefore did not advance to the floor for debate.

During the bearpit sessions with ministers, the municipalities received some assurances the infrastructure grant program will again be in place this year, although the deputy mayor noted the final amount won't be known until the provincial budget is handed down in March.

The hopes are the program will be a three-way partnership, including the federal government, with an emphasis on roads. There has been some indication the federal government may be providing such a program. Nedelcov said this will be a primary issue at the upcoming conference of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

"The municipalities need to know whether this program will be there so they can budget for it," she said.