Once the current construction on the Colosseum is completed, it will be another five years before another phase will be done in the four-phase plan to renovate the city's main arena, city council was told Monday evening.

Coun. Ray Hamm was reporting from the city's Facilities Committee, noting that construction currently underway is progressing well and is on track to being completed on time.

The old press box has been demolished, and the addition of a new exterior wall for the two new dressing rooms is mostly done, with work on the roof likely to start up this week, he said. The mechanical and electrical work for the addition is also proceeding right now.

The current work will see a new, larger press box facility constructed in addition to the new dressing rooms and mechanical room. The work is to enhance the Colosseum facility for the 2005 Royal Bank Cup, the national Junior A hockey championship to be hosted here next spring.

Of the original four-phase renovation plan, only Phase One was completely done, with the current project a modified version of another phase.

Coun. Hamm said with the projects the city has undertaken in recent years, the city's ability to self-finance another phase at the Colosseum won't arise again until the year 2009.

"However in the meantime, existing building repairs will have to be done, and will have to last at least till that time," said Hamm.

Besides what the city is doing, the Friends of the Red Wings are doing a fund-raising drive to finance building a new dressing room for the Wings in time for the Royal Bank Cup, but this will be separate from what the city is doing.

Also, monies given to the city by the Oil Show Board will help with some other improvements. The show board approved expenditure of $27,000 for a new overhead door for the Colosseum, and $7,500 for a new power pedestal at the rink.

The Facilities Committee will be taking a tour of the Colosseum in the near future, with an emphasis on looking at the sound system.

The committee took a recent tour of the Soo Line Historical Museum, and Coun. Hamm said there is concern about the financial state of the organization.

"In order to make their budget balance, they have to withdraw about $33,000 from reserves. They'll only be able to do this for another two years before they're in dire straits," said Coun. Hamm.

He added the finances are not an area that the committee can do anything about, but they wanted people to be aware of where the museum is at.

Council approved a tender to dredge the city's primary sewage lagoon and reservoir, to remove a blockage of sediment for the lagoon's inlet pipes.

Council was told the lagoon has never been cleaned since it was put into service in the 1950s, with result the inlet pipe for Cell A is completely plugged, and sediment is mounded around the inlet for Cell B.

The dredging is viewed as a temporary measure for the cells, as the city plans to build a new wastewater treatment plant in the next five to 10 years. The plan is to use the current lagoon either as a surge pond for the new plant, or to decommission it completely.

In Cell A, the dredging is to clear the inlet pipe and an area of 75 square feet around it, which the city estimates will last about five years. In Cell B, the plan is to dredge an area of 200 feet around the inlet pipe, and this is estimated to last about eight years.

The reservoirs will also be cleaned using a robotic power scrubber and pump system, rather than draining the reservoir and scrubbing it, as was done by city workers a number of years ago. Using this new method, the reservoirs can be cleaned without taking them out of service, and will take two to three days each.

The total cost to do the dredging and cleaning will be $51,370, not including GST. This was not budgeted for originally, but will be funded by the utility.

With 11 days to go, the Summer Games committee is busy getting ready to stage the provincial event, said Coun. Rob Stephanson. The Games will run from Aug. 8 to 14 at various venues in and around the city.

The organizing committee is meeting on a weekly basis now, and the final push for volunteers is on to ensure there are enough people to help the event go off smoothly.

Stephanson said the setup of the Athletes' Village is taking place this week, with the beds to be set up today and Thursday, July 28 and 29, at the Comp and Queen Elizabeth Schools from 1-4 p.m. and 6:30-8:30 p.m. each day.

One area in need of volunteers is for food services at the Comp for the 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. shift, and for security for the athletes in the villages.

After holding the opening of the new track facilities at the Comp field, Stephanson said it is now apparent that seating in the grandstand for the opening and closing ceremonies will be on a first-come, first-served basis, and local residents who will be attending are urged to bring their portable chairs to ensure there will be enough seating for the expected crowd.

"We're going to put on a great show for the province," he said.

In other council business:

· The regional tourism office formerly located in Estevan has now been moved into Weyburn, in the old city hall building. There are two positions in the office, including a new marketing coordinator.

· A settling of the new pavement on Government Road has occurred, council was told, a result of the new sewage line installed there last summer; the work was warrantied, and further settling may occur this summer, but it will all be repaired at the expense of the company who installed the line, said engineer Blaine Frank.

· A tender for a new pumphouse and storage building at River Park was approved, with Kevin Ziolkowski of Weyburn winning the bid at a cost of $11,904 for a building with an eight-foot sidewall. The building will be all steel with no wood, as it will be sitting within the flood plain in River Park.

· Approval for beer sales by the Weyburn Red Wings was tabled until the Leisure Services Commission studies the request; council wants to find out how beer sales went last season. The sale of beer would be in the new multi-purpose room in the southwest corner of the Colosseum.