City council gave verbal approval on Monday night to the South Central Health District to proceed with their Tatagwa View long-term care facility, after a delegation from the district visited council to answer questions raised by neighbouring residents.

The residents of Elgin Street, whose properties backs onto the Souris Valley grounds, maintained their opposition to the SCHD project on Tuesday, saying they are making their views known to official bodies, including the owner of the Souris Valley grounds, Saskatchewan Property Management Corporation (SPMC), and Sask Water.

Elgin Street spokesman Shawn McGrath said he has sent a letter to SPMC outlining their objections, and was told the health district would have to meet all concerns of stakeholders as part of the conditions of the sale of the Souris Valley grounds.

"The land sale is conditional on all elements being in place, with all licensing and approvals in place," he said, noting the SPMC director for this area, Dennis Jones, also told him that many of the letters of support for the project were two years old and would not be sufficient as support. One of the approvals being sought is from Sask Water to build the retention pond in the Coulter Field area.

McGrath said the residents aren't trying to have the funding pulled for their project, but to have Tatagwa View moved to a different location. The group currently has a petition circulating around Weyburn asking for support of their position; McGrath said the petition currently has at least 200 names, with more forms yet to be turned in.

Contacted on Tuesday, SPMC spokesman Greg Indzeoski confirmed the health district has to meet all conditions before the sale of the land will go through, but noted the land sale process is still going ahead.

"We are confident the district will meet all of the terms," he said, adding no site work can start on this project until the sale of land is finalized.

At council, CEO and president Lee Spencer, along with Lloyd Searcy, vice-president of operations, answered many of the concerns which have been raised by the Elgin Street residents about Tatagwa View.

Answering concerns about trees slated to be cut and the park-like surroundings of Souris Valley being disrupted, Searcy noted the buildings will mostly be located on the site of Coulter Field ball park, with only a row of shrubs to be affected. As for trees, he estimated about 30 mature trees along the creek would have to be taken out, along with a row of carragana bushes beside the old railway right-of-way.

The proposed lake or retention pond will be about 4.2 acres in size, and will have a very gradual slope along the shores to offset any possibility of someone falling into the water.

The pond will be created to provide enough dirt to raise the residential-like buildings to the 500-year flood levels, with the possibility that the leftover dirt can be added to the railway right-of-way to create a dike or noise berm for the Elgin Street properties.

Searcy said the long-term care facility is to provide a home-like atmosphere for their long-time residents, and the aim will be to keep as much of a park-like atmosphere as possible.

As for concerns the lake will develop algae or be a breeding ground for mosquitoes, Searcy said there will be aeration and fountains put in place to ensure fresh water is circulating through the pond at all times.

Coun. Debra Button raised the issue about when the perimeter road would be paved, and Searcy replied that the budget for roads to the new facility is already at $190,000, so the likelihood of having the road paved initially is fairly remote, but the plans are to pave it later as finances make it possible.

Asked by Coun. Ray Hamm if the reconfiguration of health districts into larger health regions will affect this project, Searcy said he talked with Sask. Health officials about this question on Friday, and was assured that Tatagwa View is the No. 1 project on the department's capital building list.

Asked about the possibility of a new acute care facility being added in the future, Lee Spencer replied, "There have been rumours that because Estevan has a new hospital we might lose the acute care facility. It will not happen; you always will have acute care here. I just want to put those rumours to rest, Weyburn will always have an acute care hospital."

"I don't feel city council is at all going to stand in your way. We want you to work with our engineer and with the residents. I can say wholeheartedly that city council supports this and hopes you proceed with it," the delegation was told by Mayor Don Schlosser.

The 2004 Saskatchewan Summer Games committee will next meet in January, to begin the two-and-a-half year process to put on the Games in Weyburn, said committee co-chairman Gary Goski.

In light of the announcement that Weyburn was awarded the 2004 Games, he said the provincial games officials will provide a blueprint for what steps the committee will need to take between now and August of 2004.

A big part of those Games will be the need for volunteers, as Goski noted in a separate interview they will need about 1,500 volunteers, or almost one volunteer for every athlete and coach expected to attend the Games here.

At council, Mayor Schlosser was asked to comment on statements from Estevan to the effect that Weyburn only won the Games because they've never hosted the Games before.

"The main thing I can say publicly is that city council unanimously supported the Games. I don't think the Estevan committee got the same support from the City of Estevan. I think that's one of the factors why they did not get the Games," said the mayor.

The city's drinking water passed all quality tests recently by provincial environment officials, council was told.

City engineer Bob Kinash noted Weyburn's water previously did not meet the parameters of drinking water quality standards because of the level of THMs (trihalomethanes); this parameter has now been met, according to test results provided on Monday.

Kinash said this was partially due to the lack of algae in the Nickle Lake reservoir at this time of year, and to modifications at the water treatment plant. Further modifications are being carried out over the winter to further reduce the levels of THMs.