As news of the current Avian or Chicken Flu and SARS outbreaks put emergency health care services into motion, authorities are warning the world is on the verge of a pandemic influenza outbreak. The City of Weyburn has been developing a plan to deal with pandemic influenza and council passed the plan at its meeting on Monday night.

The plan outlines what services would be offered by the city, and the priority level for personnel to receive a vaccine if and when one becomes available.

Emergency Measures coordinator Denis Pilon said in a memo to city council that the warnings of pandemic influenza is based on the historical cyclical nature of the illness. He notes with the recent outbreak of the Chicken Flu in southeast Asia, and more recently in Delaware in the U.S., the local, provincial and federal levels of government are not quite ready to deal with such an outbreak, although planning to fight it have been in development for the past three or four years.

Under the city's plan, the Sun Country Health Region will be recognized as the lead agency. It is estimated that in Saskatchewan between 150,000 and 350,000 people could become clinically ill, and between 300 and 1,000 people will die. Health officials believe the virus will spread very quickly across Canada, with the first peak about two to four months after it arrives in Canada, and the second wave of illness three to nine months after the first wave.

All city services and personnel have been broken down into orders of priority based on how essential the services are; essential or top-priority services include water treatment and delivery; police and fire protection; and sewage disposal.

Secondly are required services, including garbage pickup (which could become an essential service if public health is at risk), snow removal (depending on weather and need), fiscal services, administrative services and legislative services.

Non-essential services include recreation, tourism, building services, parks and playgrounds.

The first people to get a vaccine as it's available would be police and fire personnel, works superintendent and water plant superintendent and technicians. The second level of priority would include the mayor, city manager, city clerk, director of finance, waste disposal workers, mechanics, computer technician and truck drivers.

Council is supporting a local initiative to join the provincial "In motion" campaign to get people more physically active with healthier lifestyles.

The community kickoff for Weyburn In Motion was to be held on Tuesday evening (and was cancelled due to the storm) and will now be held on another date; meanwhile, council approved making recreation facilities available for specific events to help encourage people to get active.

On Saturday, Feb. 14, the city will sponsor free swimming at the Leisure Centre from 1 to 5 p.m., and free skating at the Tom Zandee Sports Arena on Sunday, Feb. 15 from 12:30 to 4 p.m.

The city will also provide two free fitness classes in conjunction with a new water class at the Leisure Centre. The new H2O Boot Camp will be offered on Tuesday, Feb. 24, and Thursday, Feb. 26, from 9:05 to 9:50 a.m.

In presenting the campaign to council, Bob King of the Southeast Saskatchewan Association for Culture, Recreation and Sport (SESACRS) and Corrie Schultz, physical activity coordinator for the Sun Country Health Region, noted Saskatchewan has the highest percentage of inactive people in Canada, with 69 per cent of adults and 57 per cent of children considered inactive.

King added that there were figures showing the old South Central Health District had the poorest percentage for physical activity of all health districts in Saskatchewan.

Coun. Bill Rudachyk said Weyburnites should adopt the "5-30" routine, namely doing a half-hour of activity at least five days a week, even if it's something as basic as going for a walk.

"We want to be the healthiest and most fit community in Saskatchewan," he said.

King also noted that the regional recreation group, SESACRS, is also involved with some programs in the community.

The Weyburn Rodeo Committee announced they will be taking a one-year hiatus in 2004, due to the Summer Games being held this year.

In a letter from Rodeo chairman Neal Keefe, he said the committee realizes that many sponsorship dollars and volunteer hours will be put into the Saskatchewan Summer Games, which would exhaust the resources available for the rodeo, held the last two years in conjunction with the Weyburn Wheat Festival.

The Rodeo Committee intends to return to the event in 2005, Saskatchewan's centennial year, and will be starting work on that edition later in 2004 or in early 2005. The city's celebrations for the centennial will also take place around the time of the Wheat Festival in 2005.

The city has a total of 118 taxpayers in arrears for paying their property taxes, owing collectively over $466,000 as of the end of January.

Giving council a breakdown on arrears amounts, as well as those properties with tax enforcement proceedings, the city's director finance Jon Michaud indicated the arrears as of the end of 2003 stood at $475,036. These include arrears for all past years, not just 2003.

Broken down into amounts, six ratepayers were in arrears over $5,000, but this was reduced to three at the end of January. There were 21 ratepayers who owed over $1,000 but less than $5,000, and 55 ratepayers owed under $1,000.

Under tax enforcement proceedings, the city is in process of acquiring the title from 11 ratepayers, who owe a total of $185,132 as of the end of January. Liens have been registered against 13 ratepayers for owed amounts totalling $51,710, and liens are to be registered on May 1, 2004, against nine ratepayers who owe a total of $82,222.

For the new tax year of 2004, a total of 42.5 per cent of this year's taxes have been paid, slightly less than in 2003, but this was mostly due to one bank which missed making the payment on time before Jan. 31.

In other council business:

· The city has almost used its 2004 budget for snow removal; the budget was set at $105,000, and the cost so far this year is about $90,000. The budget for removing snow from sidewalks has already gone over, with costs to date at $6,500, over the budgeted amount of $5,100. Council was told that 48 cm of snow has fallen so far, with each additional snowfall or windy day adding to the cost; this was before the snowstorm which hit Weyburn on Tuesday.

· The city's fuel tender went to Esso for gas, with their bid amount of $148,894, the cost of 130,000 litres of diesel and 120,000 litres of regular unleaded gas; and Price Rite Fuels for the supply of oil for their bid amount of $7,227. These suppliers will be contracted to supply the fuel from March 1, 2004 to February of 2005. There were five local suppliers who bid for both gas and oil tenders.