City Hall will hold an open house on Tuesday, Oct. 3, to meet any interested individuals or business owners about the issue of commercial garbage pickup.

The open house will include information from the city as well as the city's two private contractors, Regens Disposal and M&R Machines; a comment sheet will be provided for the input of those who attend.

The meeting will be held upstairs in the council chambers, from 1 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m.

Discussions will be held on such topics as equipment, costs of operation, charges for collection and the options available for private collection of refuse.

The open house was scheduled after councillors felt a meeting held by the Weyburn Chamber of Commerce was not representative enough of the city's business community to base a decision on. The city has proposed getting out of commercial refuse pickup altogether due to annual losses of around $65,000, and due to the need for a new garbage truck at a cost of over $105,000.

Regens has served notice they will pull out of the city if the city continues to provide commercial refuse pickup.

Plans for renovating the new city hall in the Federal Building are continuing, with a tentative time line set to have tenders go out next spring, council was told Monday.

Facilities committee chairman Ray Hamm said the architect has proposed sending out tenders on March 27, 2001, with construction to begin on May 1. A site plan was also circulated to council members, including use of the new parking lot (next to Knox Hall) purchased from the Weyburn Co-op.

A design for the renovations to the Federal Building could be in hand to councillors by November, said Hamm. The proposal is to spend about $1 million to refurbish the building for use by city hall. The current tenants, Canada Post and the PFRA offices, are to be out of the building by March 31, 2001.

The future of the current city hall, meanwhile, is up in the air, as one of the requirements to fix the facility is the replacement of the existing steam boiler, which is currently shared with the Legion Hall next door. The Legion has been notified of this need, and they indicated they would have funds in place to replace the boiler with a new separate one.

Hamm also told council that construction on the library addition project is behind schedule, but the contractor has indicated he will be able to catch up to the proper time-line.

The library has told the committee they will want to remove the office and back storage area to allow for more flexibility in the renovated library facility. A price for this work has been requested to see if this will be feasible.

Council was informed that the RM of Weyburn council has served notice they are leaving the Weyburn 2020 group effective immediately.

No reason for this move was given in a short letter from the RM, which simply provided a copy of the motion by RM council.

"I find this move very unfortunate and very regrettable. I haven't been able to find out the reason. I've been asked by a number of people if 2020 will continued, and the answer is yes, it will," said Coun. Hamm, who has been a member of Weyburn 2020 since its formation.

Weyburn 2020 was a long-term strategic planning group involving both the City and RM of Weyburn.

Council has ordered the owner of the site of Eddie's Neighbourhood Bar and Grill (which was destroyed by fire two years ago) to clean up their property or else the city will move in and clean it for them.

The city is taking the action under provisions of the Urban Municipality Act which gives a municipality the power to deal with a nuisance property. A primary reason for the action is the detrimental effect on the property values of adjoining properties, plus the potential for hazard, as the foundation for the former restaurant has not been cleaned up.

A partial demolition of the restaurant was made in the summer of 1999, but a demolition permit was never obtained from city hall, and the sewer and water deposit has never been paid, said building inspector Doug Mulhall, adding he has been talking with the owners since April of this year to get the site cleaned up.

"We've had ongoing discussions with the owners, who have been saying it's the insurance company who should pay. There are disagreements over whose bill it is. We've tried to play ball with them," said Mayor Don Schlosser.

Under the act, the owner of the property, Dee Jay's Chicken Village Inc., of Estevan, will have 14 days written notice, giving them the opportunity to appear at the next council meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 10 and explain their side of the situation. If they do not make any contact with the city, 45 days' notice will then be served during which time the owner can fix the situation, otherwise city work crews will go in and do it. The cost of their work would then be applied against the property as taxes.