The City of Weyburn will be one of 15 centres around the province which will simultaneously host a Centennial celebration, with a provincially-funded fireworks show as a key feature, council was told on Monday night.

Members of Weyburn's Centennial committee attended the council meeting as Coun. Rob Stephanson made the announcement for the major celebration on Sunday, Sept. 4, the official day Saskatchewan turns 100 years old.

Stephanson noted the city's tourism coordinator, Donna Hastings, had flown to Saskatoon earlier on Monday for the provincial announcement of the celebration, which will be held in 15 centres around the province so most residents will have access to a celebration within two hours or less away from them.

"There will be fireworks in all 15 locations, about 30 minutes in length, with narration and music, and it will be simultaneous in all 15 locations," said Stephanson, adding this scale of event has never been held in the province before.

In addition to the pyrotechnics, there will be many activities taking place in the community throughout the day, with organizers hoping for crowds of 3,000 or more to attend. The list includes a pancake breakfast, an interdenominational church service, flea market, children's rides and games, events at the skateboard park, a multicultural program, and entertainment on an outdoor stage from noon to 8 p.m., with a community supper hosted by the Weyburn Agricultural Society.

There will also be birthday cake, and music by country artist Aaron Prichett at a barn dance starting at 8 p.m., pausing for the fireworks at 9 p.m., and then resuming until late into the night.

"We feel this will be the biggest event that the City of Weyburn has ever seen. We would be disappointed if there aren't 3,000 people there. We encourage people to mark this day on the calendar," said Coun. Stephanson.

He also noted the Centennial flag-raising would take place Tuesday afternoon at City Hall with Mayor Schlosser. The original plan had been to raise it on New Year's Day, but blizzard conditions thwarted that plan.

Council approved a loan guarantee for the Weyburn Youth Centre, who is borrowing $50,000 towards the cost of their new skateboard park.

The intention to guarantee the loan had been advertised to the public, but the city received no letters or phone calls about it, and no delegations attended council to speak on it.

City manager Bob Smith said there are guarantees in place should the youth centre default on their loan payments for the city to pay the charges, noting the purpose of the loan guarantee is to help give the youth centre interim financing towards the skateboard park, so they can complete in 2005.

The loan guarantee, through the Weyburn Credit Union, is for a two-year term.

One local improvement project was petitioned out for 2005, and one petition against a project was declared invalid, so most of this year's projects will proceed.

The project which was successfully petitioned out was to recap Second Avenue between Third and Fourth Streets S.E. The estimated worth of this project was $29,300.

The unsuccessful petition was for Third Avenue South from Government Road to Third Street S.E. The petition only had 47.8 per cent of the property owners, and 46.6 per cent of the fair value land abutting the proposed work; over 50 per cent is required for both numbers before the city will accept the petition. This project is worth $35,800. No other local improvement project had a petition filed against it.

The city's penalties bylaw will be updated, with the maximum fines increased, for those bylaws which do not specify a fine amount.

The bylaw update is required under the new Cities Act, as the original bylaw was put in place in 1989. The bylaw was not fully passed, as Coun. Bill McKenzie opposed a provision in the bylaw for additional penalties.

The previous maximum fine was $2,000, and will now be increased to $10,000, while for corporations, the maximum fine will be $25,000.

The minimum level of fines was not set, and is determined by the courts, said city manager Bob Smith.

The provision opposed by Coun. McKenzie states that a court may impose an additional penalty over and above the original fine.

"To me it sounds like a harder style of blackmail. Do I take a chance in going to court and getting the fine doubled?" he said, adding he feels this is a deterrent to fighting a bylaw charge.

City clerk Cheryl Rommann explained the wording came out of the Cities Act, and makes provision for the original fee to be charged in addition to the fine. If for example the bylaw charge involved a tipping fee at the landfill that wasn't paid, then the fee would have to be paid in addition to whatever fine was levied by the court.

As the vote on the bylaw was not unanimous, third and final reading to pass it will not take place until the next council meeting on Monday, April 25.

In other council business:

· Mayor Don Schlosser announced that the owners of the ethanol plant under construction in the old distillery plant, NorAmera BioEnergy, will give an update on their project on Friday, April 22, at the Weyburn Inn, at 2:30 p.m. The minister of Industry and Resources, Eric Cline, will be on hand for the presentation.

· The Weyburn Public Library will launch their new CD collection and Ukrainian cultural resource materials on Saturday, April 30, said Coun. Gary Frederickson.

· Nickle Lake Regional Park will be marking its 50th year with a celebration on July 10 at the park, said Coun. McKenzie; the park board is looking for any old photos from the park from throughout its 50 years, especially older photos; also for the park, he said the board is looking for volunteers to help plant trees, as 435 new trees will arrive during the first week of May.