The Rural Municipality of Weyburn dealt with a number of proposals for development in the area during their last council meeting on Wednesday, including from the city, the Weyburn Inland Terminal and from property owners proposing subdivisions.

A proposal came forward from the City of Weyburn in regard to their new sewage lagoon, which will be located in RM near the south end of Nickle Lake.

The RM requested the city to put in a road on the west side of the lagoon when it gets built, but otherwise the council approved the plan, said Coun. Ron Lutz. The new lagoon will be located south of the old one, and will be about a mile away from RM councillor Ron Fellner.

The RM also approved a request from Weyburn Inland Terminal to locate a facility that will handle anhydrous ammonia fertilizer at the former WeyBetter Yield location. No opposition to the proposal was voiced from any area property owners, said Coun. Lutz.

In addition, the council received four more subdivision requests from property owners, and these were approved by council.

As Coun. Lutz pointed out, this is only the first step for the developers, as they will now have to approach the Weyburn Utilities Board about water supply, and will have to meet the criteria set down by the various government departments and agencies, such as SaskWater, Environment, Community Planning, the federal Oceans and Fisheries department if a water body or river is involved, and Highways if an area highway is to be used as an access point.

Coun. Lutz also provided a report from a meeting of the Regina District RMs association held on Jan. 3-4, which dealt with a lot of issues that are common to rural municipalities.

One of the highlights of the gathering was an address by Bill Hutchinson, the new provincial minister of Municipal Affairs, and he promised the RMs there will be a seven-per-cent increase in revenue sharing to start with, plus $149 million for infrastructure needs. He also mentioned the rebate on education tax on agricultural land would double in four years. When the minister was asked when the tax will be taken off ag land, the minister said, "We're working on it."

The minister also noted the Sask. Party is seeking more federal support for agriculture and education needs.

David Marit from SARM (Sask. Association of Rural Municipalities) also spoke at the Regina district meeting, and noted SARM has asked for a huge increase in revenue sharing, as well as for a moratorium on school closures for a few years.

The gathering also heard from a training consultant on the subject of training heavy equipment operators, such as those who run the graders for RMs. New standards were set to be introduced by the NDP, but now those are on hold with the new Sask Party government. Coun. Lutz recommended the RM bring the consultant to the southeast area for a presentation, noting a question that was asked of the delegates: is this an investment or an expense?