City council has introduced a new noise bylaw that gives the police more powers to lay charges and to give evidence, but has put off giving third reading in order to get input from the public.

In the current bylaw, only the neighbour or property owner being affected by loud noise could give evidence of the incident in court; police could not give evidence, and could not lay a charge unless the complainant was willing to testify about it.

"The largest reason for this change is because of concerns expressed by residents," said city manager Bob Smith, adding that in the new bylaw, "a police officer can give evidence even without a statement from the property owner affected by the noise."

If there is a noisy party, for example, the police can now respond and can give evidence based on what they see and hear at the scene.

The fines range from a minimum of $200 to a maximum of $1,000, plus the fine can be a voluntary payment, as the accused does not have to necessarily appear in court in order to pay the fine.

Under the new bylaw, factors on whether a charge is laid include whether there are school-aged children in the vicinity of the noise, or adults who are trying to sleep. The bylaw outlines 9 p.m. as the time for children to begin their rest time on a school night, and 10 p.m. for when most people begin their evening rest.

The 10 p.m. time was questioned by Coun. Rob Stephanson, as the former bylaw had 11 p.m. as the late evening time, but Smith notes that police will have some flexibility under this bylaw, depending on other factors.

One source of noise identified in the bylaw is idling of truck motors for more than 20 minutes within 100 metres of the house, hotel or motel. Exempt noises include those made by or on behalf of the city in doing repairs to city infrastructure, such as street repair, or construction or repair of water or sewer mains or snow removal, and the Weyburn Fair.

A joint application by the City and RM of Weyburn for a shared grant to reconstruct Queen Street has been approved.

Within the city boundary, Queen Street will be rebuilt from Mryglod Avenue South to the south boundary of the city, and from the city limits south half a mile to the east-west road.

For the city's portion of the road, the total cost will be $80,100, of which the city pays $26,700, and the balance is split between the federal and provincial governments.

The city will ask the RM to use the same consultant on both parts of the project to design the road to provincial highway standards, and to also deal with the environmental assessment which has to be completed before the project can be tendered.

Council was told of a contact which was made by the Southeast REDA (Regional Economic Development Authority) with MCS Agri-Terminals, which is looking for a new container-loading facility in Weyburn or surrounding area.

SEREDA manager Dylan Clarke said he has been in touch with the owner and president of MCS Agri-Terminals, Dory Tuvim, who recently set up his company in Moose Jaw.

"After speaking with Mr. Tuvim, he made it very apparent that he is very interested and sees much potential for the Weyburn region," said Clarke, adding he is setting up a meeting with the business owner near the end of March in Moose Jaw.

The meeting will include producers and any interested businesses who would like to talk about the possible venture. The agri-terminal business transfers semi trailers onto rail cars for shipment to Eastern Canada or the U.S.

The Environmental Resource Committee will be looking at some changes to the annual cleanup campaign, as well improving the level of recycling done by city residents.

Coun. Stephanson said one change residents will notice in the cleanup campaign is the use of a coupon for the free dropoff day at the landfill, instead of just opening the landfill up on two or three different weekends.

The coupon will mean the property owner can go to the landfill when it suits them, rather than going on a weekend that has bad weather.

As to the lifespan of the city's landfill, Stephanson said the committee is concerned about recycling and about the amount of cardboard still going into the landfill. The committee will discuss the lifespan of the landfill at the current rate of disposal, the estimated cost of replacing the landfill, and how the lifespan can be increased with improved recycling.

The committee also wants the public to know that residents can drop off or exchange paint cans for free at the landfill site all year around. In addition, a specific paint exchange day will be held, probably in mid-September.

In conjunction with the tourism committee, the Environmental committee is looking at taking part in the Communities in Bloom competition, and involving the clean-up campaign. As part of Communities in Bloom, he noted three local lumberyards donated the materials for three park benches each, to be assembled by the Wor-Kin Shop and placed by vacant lots to spruce them up. Also, businesses which are adjacent to empty lots may have their walls painted or have a mural done on their wall as part of the beautification effort.

In other council business:

· The Summer Games is still in "desperate" need for volunteers to step forward, said Coun. Stephanson; they need to come forward now to get their names into the database instead of waiting until closer to the event to come forward; also, in conjunction with the Arts Council, there will be a people's choice competition ran for the entire Zone 1 area, larger than the area usually included for the James Weir People's Choice competition.

· The police commission has requested an interview time with the Justice Minister about the backlog of cases in provincial court, but so far have been unable to arrange a time with the minister.