Proponents of a skateboard park for the Weyburn Youth Centre will be meeting with city council on Monday night to update them on where the project is at, while a city councillor continues to push for an alternative site at Jubilee Park.

Members of the Youth Centre board have been invited to meet with council at their committee meeting prior to the public portion of the council meeting, to find out the status of the proposal.

Council had approved the Youth Centre's skateboard park proposal in principle, but in the city's preliminary budget no monies were set aside to help the park go forward this year.

In the meantime, Coun. Bill McKenzie sent a letter on the issue to his fellow councillors at their last meeting, and has since opened a bank account to fund the alternative site for the skateboard park. His first contribution to this account was a donation from KAOS, a group of students at the Weyburn Comp which is now winding down.

In his letter, Coun. McKenzie urges council to "finally stand up and do something for the youth of this community" and put some taxpayers' dollars towards this project, rather than funding one that the community doesn't want.

"A skate park is what the taxpayers in this community want, so why not for once do something that they agree on. We sit here with taxpayers' money, putting it here and there for investments, but are not willing to invest in our own youth," he said, adding there would be an economic spinoff as the users of the park will want to buy their equipment and clothes locally.

The councillor also said the issue of liability may not that big of a problem for the city, providing several e-mails from other communities that have skateboard parks.

As part of its proposal, the Weyburn Youth Centre indicated the park would be covered under their own insurance for the TAGS Teen Centre, which is part of the reason why they want to locate adjacent to the Youth Centre and not in Jubilee Park. The other reason is the park can be monitored, not in a continuous 24/7 fashion but by having personnel close by who can help park users if need be.

Brian Hopfe, executive director of the Youth Centre, said they are still pursuing the project.

"We've got a lot of people willing to do in-kind work for us to keep the costs down. It's coming along," he said on Monday.

Hopfe pointed out an advantage for the Youth Centre is they can issue tax receipts for donations, which the city cannot do if they take the project on as their own facility.