The Weyburn Police Commission and a city lawyer have sent letters of protest over the building backlog of cases in Weyburn provincial court to both the chief judge and associate chief judge.

The letter from the police commission will go out under the signature of Mayor Don Schlosser, a member of the commission, stating that the current situation in Weyburn is "unacceptable," with the judge often unable to make it to Weyburn from Moose Jaw and cases being adjourned months down the line.

Commission member Debra Button said on one of the days the judge didn't make it, there were people present in court who had travelled from Moose Jaw to take part in the court proceedings.

Mayor Schlosser noted that the judge again didn't make Monday's regular court day, and everything on the docket was adjourned to another date.

The complaints about how the court is operating were echoed by city lawyer Greg Bobbitt, who said in a letter to the associate chief judge that the main problem is Weyburn doesn't have a resident judge who can hear matters in a timely fashion.

Bobbitt noted that matters being set for trial right now are going into August and September due to the backlog of cases, and he has one matter that won't be heard until a full year after it initially came to court. He said when Weyburn had a resident judge, trials were scheduled within 30 days of when a plea was entered.

Bobbitt suggested either a resident judge could be appointed here who could work other days in neighbouring jurisdictions such as in Regina, or more court days could be set in Weyburn to help take care of the backlog.

This issue has been raised by the city's bar association before, who were told in the past by Justice officials that judge Claude Fafard technically still holds the appointment as Weyburn's judge, even though he has been on sick leave, and another resident judge cannot be appointed in the meantime.

The City of Weyburn will fund operation of the outdoor skating rink at Jubilee Park for the remainder of the winter, after a volunteer group running the rink said they would stop as a result of vandalism to the warm-up shack at the rink.

The city discontinued funding outdoor rinks in the late 1980s due to budgetary cutbacks. For the last few years, a group of EnCana employees had been running the Jubilee Park rink, but found this year they had a hard time getting enough volunteers to run the rink.

The group's representative, Kelly Van de Sype, sent a letter to the city Parks Department saying the group would cease running the rink as of Jan. 17. He said the vandalism to the warm-up building was the deciding factor.

Council was told the estimate to maintain the ice and remove snow for the next six weeks would be about $1,750, with another $2,000 to have a supervisor look after the ice and make sure the warm-up shack was all right. In the end, council decided to maintain the ice, but not to fund a supervisory position, which will mean the warm-up shack will not be kept open.

The total cost to run the rink with supervision for the entire winter season was estimated at $8,900, which includes $4,900 to flood and maintain the ice, and $4,000 for a part-time rink attendant for 12 weeks.

Coun. Rob Stephanson noted Swift Current has a population of about 14,000 and has six outdoor rinks, and questioned why Weyburn, a city of 10,000, has trouble keeping just one rink operable.

Council rejected an application by Gabe Runge and Maegan Samenook to establish a commercial dog kennel in the city just south of Duraco Windows.

A representative of area neighbours, Kim Anderson, presented a 19-name petition opposing the kennel, and explained why the residents didn't want to see such a development come to their area of the city.

"We had a dog kennel out there before and it was extremely noisy. We had dogs in the yard all the time. All of us feel this way because of the experience of before. The noise is unbelievable," he said, noting the previous kennel was 800 meters away from the nearest residence, while this one was proposed to be 200m away.

City building inspector Doug Mulhall said the city bylaws don't have a minimum setback requirement, and in a check with other municipalities only found Swift Current required a 150-metre setback.

Just prior to the unanimous vote against the proposal, Coun. Stephanson said he hopes the city might be able to find a suitable alternate location for the people wanting to set the business up.

In other council business:

· Council approved a new bylaw outlining the duties of the City Manager, defeating an amendment proposed by Coun. George Kalman to limit how the manager deals with land transactions. The amendment sought to have any controversial land purchases come to council for approval, but other councillors noted that all land purchases come to council for approval.

· Council expressed some concerns over a proposed subdivision of land just outside the city limits, just to the west of the Souris Valley grounds. The 13-acre parcel is immediately south of the city farm, and is adjacent to the Souris River, the city's main source of drinking water. The city wants to ensure that no animals will be allowed direct access to the river water, and that any buildings on the site be above the 1:500 flood elevation to prevent contamination of the river in the event of high waters.

· In the year-end comparison of tax collections, council was told the city had collected 97.7 per cent of the taxes for 2002 as of Dec. 31, 2002, higher than both 2001 (96.3 per cent) and 2000 (97.2 per cent), and the city had collected 69.1 per cent of outstanding arrears, significantly higher than last year (56.7 per cent) or 2000 (47.7 per cent). The outstanding amount of 2002 taxes is $201,267, and the arrears is $173,854 for a total balance due of $375,122. This compares to $509,719 left owing a year ago, and $426,939 left owing in 2000.