City council is seeking feedback from Weyburn's business community about a proposal for the city to give up commercial refuse collection and turn it over to private contractors.

City engineer Bob Kinash presented a discussion paper to council on Monday night, saying the city is losing as much as $65,000 a year hauling commercial waste, and that Weyburn is the only major centre left in the province still subsidizing commercial garbage collection.

Two city staff members currently make 400 pickups a week from 179 city businesses, with small businesses getting one free pickup per week. These two positions would be lost, but the workers would be absorbed into the Public Works department so their jobs would not be lost.

Most other major cities in Saskatchewan do not collect garbage from their commercial sectors at all. The centres that still do collect with city crews, such as Melfort and Melville, have collection rates set at full-cost recovery.

Kinash said the cost of business pickups is about $80,000 per year, with revenues in 1999 of $35,000, giving a net loss of $45,000. There is an additional loss of around $20,000 as there is no revenue at the landfill from garbage brought in city trucks.

Businesses had partially offset this loss before through the business tax, said Kinash, but the business tax has now been phased out.

The city could save money by shelving a budget proposal to buy a new garbage truck, which is estimated to cost $105,000 with trade-in. The new truck would not be needed if the city got out of collecting business refuse. One of the existing packer trucks could also be sold.

Kinash admits that small businesses will feel the impact of this move the most, as larger businesses use contractors for larger bins.

Coun. Ray Hamm suggested savings from the city giving up business garbage collection could be passed on to the smaller businesses who would be impacted the most.

"I assume some of that savings might be a tax saving we could pass on," he said.

Mayor Don Schlosser added administrators should talk to the businesses as well as to the city's two private contractors, Regens Disposal and M&R Machines, about what their rates would be.

"I don't see how the businesses would be the only ones who would benefit from any savings. If there is a break, it should be a break for everything," said Coun. Debra Button.

Coun. Ray Wahl pointed out the two contractors are also small businesses in Weyburn, and such a move by the city would benefit them.

"We wanted to get this out and get some reaction from the public. I think if we are going to change, the time to do it would be Jan. 1, 2001.... We'll take our time and get out the information, and let the people know what's going on," said the mayor.

Regarding the city's other garbage-related issue with the RM of Weyburn, a copy of a letter to the RM of Weyburn from the RM of Lomond was sent to council.

It was their response to the RM of Weyburn's request for support from area RMs towards a weigh scale at the city landfill, in an effort to resolve their long-standing dispute with the city over the use of the landfill by RM residents.

Lomond administrator Kevin Melle noted their disposal grounds at Goodwater and Colgate are nearing the end of their lives, and the RM council is investigating setting up a garbage collection and transfer station by the year 2001.

Lomond will agree to pay a negotiated per capita levy to a municipality to take their garbage, whether it's Weyburn, Estevan or Regina, and will pay a tipping fee based on the same tipping fees charged to that city's residents.

In addition, Lomond council said, "if the recipient of our garbage, ie., Weyburn, Estevan, etc., feel that in order to establish a regional landfill system that a weigh scale is necessary, this municipality may contribute to the costs of the same."

This letter follows one from the RM of Griffin. That council told Weyburn they are interested in a regional landfill and so will not support the purchase of a weigh scale at this time. The city has already stated they will not pay for a weigh scale at the landfill, and expect area RMs to pick up that cost.

Council approved the installation of new light fixtures in the Colosseum to replace the current ones, as the supplying company will no longer replace their bulbs or ballasts.

The company, Pacific Premium, sent an example of the new fixtures to the city, which was installed and tried out to see if they will be adequate in the Colosseum. The electrical contractor who installed it determined these lights will be easier to service, and parts are readily available for them, said Coun. Ray Hamm, chairman of the facilities committee.

Coun. Mike Pickering asked why the committee doesn't put in the same kind of lights as are used in the Sports Arena.

"The company will not supply the ones that are in the Sports Arena. Those lights are available, but we would be paying for them. Pacific Premium will be paying for these fixtures," answered Coun. Hamm, adding the city will only have to pay for the installation of the lights and for screen guards, a total of around $3,000. The new light fixtures will be under warranty.

The current set of lights were installed to help save energy costs for the city, but the new lights to replace them won't be as energy-efficient, said Hamm.

The facilities committee also reported there has been a minute shift in the Colosseum floor, but it was small enough not to cause concern yet.

"We hope it will be within parameters the curling teams will be able to accept. We'll continue to monitor the floor on a monthly basis," said Hamm, adding the movement in the floor was a matter of millimetres. An icemaker was consulted about the shift, and the committee was told it should be within tolerable limits.

Council also approved a recommendation from the facilities committee to accept the lowest tender for a new chemical storage building at the Leisure Centre. The lowest bid of $17,199 came from Bacon Construction, over the budgeted amount of $15,000.

The building was felt necessary to store chemicals used in the operation of the swimming pool, as dust from the chemicals has been getting on equipment inside the Leisure Centre.

Coun. Hamm said the committee will work with this company to modify the building plans to bring the price closer to the budgeted amount of $15,000.

Council gave third and final reading to its mill rate bylaw, making official the tax increase of 2.45 per cent for its 2000 budget.

"It's unfortunate we have to pass the increase in the mill rate, but unfortunately the rise in operational costs are leading us that way," commented Coun. Pickering, adding that new development underway in the city will hopefully help out with additional revenues in the future.

The mill rate will go up by 0.4 of a mill, with a zero increase on the school board portion of the city tax bill.

Included in this year's budget is the first of a two-year commitment to build an addition and renovate the Weyburn Public Library (at a cost of $370,900 this year), an increase in salaries by about $100,000 and an increase in the operation costs of recreation facilities by about $94,600. Other factors cited for the budget increase were the expanded PST, higher natural gas and fuel costs, and a continuing freeze in the revenue-sharing grant from the province.

Renters will see an increased charge as a result of this year's budget, as the city will be increasing the deposit amount charged for water meters. The deposit has not been keeping up with the disconnection charge, and the amount of write-offs have been increasing in recent years.

The new deposit will now be $100 for residential service, and $175 for commercial properties. This deposit will be refundable; no deposit is charged to property owners.

Tenders will close on June 9 on the library project with information to be available for the June 12 council meeting; if everything proceeds without a problem, construction will begin by June 26.

The city will put together a development plan using the groundwork established by the Weyburn 2020 strategic planning group.

Under the new plan, the city will set out what areas should be developed for housing or businesses, where future businesses should be located, and so on.

Much of the information was provided by a consultant, hired through funding from the Southeast Regional Economic Development Authority (SEREDA).

When asked if Weyburn 2020 will now come to an end, if some of its functions were now being carried out by SEREDA, Coun. Hamm said the group unanimously supported continuing on so they could monitor the development plan as the city puts it together.

He explained the development plan is just one component of what 2020 was looking at, with the education component to be looked at next, followed by agriculture in November and municipal government next January.

The Young Fellows Club informed council they will begin to install new playground equipment at the Don Mitchell Tot Lot this weekend as part of a two or three-year project.

The club will spend $15,000 this year on new equipment, with a new swing set, play tunnel and slides to be installed, supplied by Blue Imp Equipment.

The upgrade was made as a result of safety concerns, with an old slide, swings and merry-go-round removed recently.

The club will make further improvements to this play area, estimating they will spend a further $25,000 in the next two to three years.