Weyburn city council will be considering a request from the Weyburn Youth Center to help finish off paying for the skateboard park when council begins their budget deliberations for 2007.

At their first meeting of the new year on Monday evening, council heard the request in a letter from executive director Brian Hopfe, who laid out the organization's current situation, pointing out that even with increased costs they've been able to cover most of the expenses, with $18,000 yet to raise to finish off the park.

City manager Bob Smith noted when Hopfe first came to council in August of 2003, the proposal at that time was to establish a skateboard park at a cost of $80,000, but as a result of delays and other cost increases, the project came in at around $130,000.

Some of the help council has given during the project included a grant of $40,000 over two years, and then a $50,000 loan guarantee to cover off the funds needed to finish the project. Hopfe said they have been faithfully paying down the loan, and added, "As I am sure you're aware, this has certainly put restraints on the remainder of the programs offered."

The park has been heavily used over the summer and fall months, and the Youth Center was able to supplement the grounds work, and plan to do some more improvements in the coming year, including planting evergreens for shelter, putting in picnic tables and setting up a concession stand outside at the park.

"We believe that the skate park has been not only a value to us and our programs but to the entire city of Weyburn. During the spring, summer and fall months you can see that there is seldom a time during the day that the park is not being used," said Hopfe in his letter.

The funds needed to finish off the skateboard park project is separate from the other programs that are offered or going to be offered by the Youth Center, and are separate from staff salaries, which are raised by each staff member by support in the community. The Center is in the midst of planning for the Joshua House transition facility for youth.

"The Youth Center does a lot of good things in the city, and fundraising is hard with so many good things going on," said Coun. Dick Michel, who initially proposed the city find $10,000 from their budget to go towards the skateboard park.

He later changed this to be an amount between $10-15,000 at the urging of Coun. Rob Stephanson, who wanted to see the city give a higher amount to the project. Council decided to defer the item to budget talks, with the amount to be finalized at that time.

In a tax enforcement sale of two residential properties, one was sold while the other has been retained by the city for a later time.

Both houses were put up for sale by tender to cover outstanding taxes on the property, the first at 212 Lorraine Street, the other at 802 Park Avenue.

The house on Lorraine Street was shown 19 times and 11 tender bids came in. The highest bid, accepted by council, was by Elmer Ivan in the amount of $15,200, which exceeded the taxes owing on the property by some $7,000.

For the property on Park Avenue, only one bid was received in the amount of $2,250, while the taxes owing are over $8,000. The tender bidder said they wanted to build a storage building on the property, which measures 32.5 feet wide by 120 feet long.

As the bid was far short of what was needed to cover the outstanding taxes, it was felt the city would be better off to retain the property until a later time.

A new policy has been developed for snow removal at Hillcrest Cemetery, and was passed by council.

The policy, which is largely the existing practice of the Fire Department which administers the cemetery, includes that snow removal will not be done until city streets have been cleared and made passable, with the exception of funerals.

A number of routes around the cemetery have been designated for snow clearing, and city manager Smith noted most of the cemetery can be accessed from these roads. The service road off 10th Street will not be opened during the winter, and the north gate to the old section of the cemetery will remain locked during the winter, with the main gate remaining open.

The city also retains the ability to close the cemetery in the event of excessive snow, or if melting snow causes soft roads or other conditions that may cause damage to the roads.

The Facilities committee is continuing to discuss a number of options around housing for the museum and curling museum, with a suggestion that such a facility include a new oil industry interpretive centre.

The requirements for such a facility include a prominent location with good road access as essential, but there are many factors to be considered with the options as they currently exist.

One is the question of Signal Hill Arts Centre; if there is a desire for a new museum facility, Signal Hill would require funding to do repairs in order to remain a stand-alone facility.

A number of vacant facilities were mentioned, along with the possibility of St. Dominic Savio which will become vacant in the future.

Another major project being looked at is the Centennial pool, and general direction from the council retreat is to look at replacing the pool by 2009 or 2010. Facilities manager Andy Dobson is gathering information for a structural engineering report on the pool's current condition.

In other council business:

· The Leisure Services Commission looked at a request from Marvin Gisi and Lawrence Woodard to rename the ball diamond at Tom Laing Park as Ray Belanger Field; commission member Bill Rudachyk talked with Jim Laing about the request, and he was under the impression the name applies to the whole park. The commission is asking for suggestions for an alternate area that might be named after the late Mr. Belanger.

· The Environmental Resource committee was told the city was able to recycle 23.16 tonnes of paper and cardboard in November, and 11.57 tonnes of paper and cardboard went into the landfill during that month. Options for recycling were discussed, including information from a similar-sized community in Alberta, Cold Lake, where no provincial funding is available for recycling; residents there pay $15 a month on their water bills for recycling, and a significant increase is expected soon, with a blue bag system for pickup in place.

· Tax collections as of the end of 2006 saw one of the city's best years ever, with 98.35 per cent collected, compared to 95.77 per cent as of the end of 2005.