The City of Weyburn launched a two-part fundraising campaign on Monday to help cover the city's costs of completing the renovation program for the Weyburn Colosseum.

The biggest part of the campaign is under the auspices of the city's Community Capital Fundraising Committee, and is largely aimed at companies and corporations in the Weyburn and surrounding area. This campaign is granting naming rights for various parts of the renovation project at the Colosseum, with one sponsor to take on the biggest part, naming rights to the Colosseum itself.

The Weyburn Credit Union was the first company to step forward as a sponsor, as they will pay $20,000 to have one of the new dressing rooms on the north side of the Colosseum named after the Credit Union, an honour good for the next 15 years.

Proceeds from the naming rights arrangement will help the city complete the final phase of the three-phase renovation project, which includes replacing the lobby with a new lobby area and a second floor, new dressing rooms and washrooms, and multi-purpose rooms, plus new seating for about two-thirds of the Colosseum.

Credit Union CEO Don Shumlich said their organization is proud to play a role in making improvements to such an important facility for the community.

"2007 was a good year for us, and this is one way for us to contribute back to the community," he added at a press conference held Monday afternoon at City Hall.

Coun. Bill Rudachyk, chair of the fundraising committee, said a number of other companies are also lining up for naming rights, including one for the Colosseum itself, but the details have not been finalized yet. They will be identified in the near future, he added, once all the arrangements are completed.

The second part of the fundraising campaign is the "Take-a-Seat" campaign, which will be primarily aimed at the residential sector of the city. For $150, a resident can have his or her name inscribed on a plaque on one of 700 new seats.

This will be a tax deductible donation, he noted, and said the first six seats were bought by Mayor Debra and Greg Button, Coun. Dick and Audrey Michel, and Coun. Bill and Dona Rudachyk.

The new seats will go into sections A, B, G and H, which are the southern two-thirds of either side of the ice surface. City manager Bob Smith noted the cost of each seat is about $80, plus the cost of installation is around another $80 each, so the donation of $150 is to help cover the majority of the cost of installing the new chairs.

The chair can be bought either with the donor's name on it, or it can bought in memory of a late resident.

"As well, while we're primarily aiming at the public with this campaign, if a corporation would like to step up and take five, or 10 or 20 seats, we'd certainly thank them and are willing to accommodate them," said Coun. Rudachyk, adding brochures about the campaign will be going out in the water bills to every property owner in the city in February.

The city is aiming to install the new seats once the current hockey season is completed, and depending on tender bids, will also be doing the renovations this spring and summer in time for the 2008-09 hockey season.

During council on Monday evening, the local improvement program for 2008 was approved, and will now be sent to the Municipalities Board for approval before coming back for a bylaw. Once the bylaw is set, residents will then be notified and will have the opportunity to petition out a project if they wish.

The local improvement program will be worth $1.047 million, and will include some recapping, new pavement, concrete sidewalk replacement and water main replacement.

The recapping is proposed for the following locations: 18th Street from Coteau to Eaglesham Avenues, and from Eaglesham to Tom Hart Drive, and from Coteau south to the lane; Brimacombe Drive from Douglas Road north to the end; Duke Street from Douglas Road to Ash Drive; Second Avenue N.W. from King Street to Bannerman Street; Montgomery Crescent; Highfield Crescent; and Fifth Street from Maple Drive to Douglas Road. This recapping work is worth a total of $469,753.

New paving is proposed for Sixth Avenue S.E. from Fourth Street SE to Moffet Drive; Moore Street from First Ave. S.W. to Third Ave. S.W.; and First Avenue S.W. from Moore Street to 30 metres west of Brownlee Street. These projects are worth a total of $362,956.

The new sidewalks are proposed for Fifth Avenue SE from Third Street to E.Pl. Parcel C; Third Street SE from Sixth Avenue to Seventh Avenue SE; and Foster Street from Bison Avenue to Coteau, with the exception of No. 232. This work is worth a total of $112,206.

Finally, the watermain replacement is proposed for Mergens Street, from Coteau Ave. W. to 96.3 metres north, and from that point to 158 metres north of Coteau Avenue. This work is estimated at $102,000.

The city's recycling program has improved over last year, but still has a ways to go to get paper and cardboard out of the landfill, council was told.

In a report from the Environmental Resource committee, Coun. Nancy Styles said there was a total of 349.06 tonnes of paper and cardboard recycled from Weyburn in 2007, which is up by 29 per cent from the previous year.

In addition, there was a total of 64.29 tonnes of paper and cardboard taken to the landfill in 2007, which is a decrease of 59 per cent from the year before. However, three-quarters of this paper and cardboard all come from one company, noted Coun. Styles.

On the issue of plastic shopping bags, the city and Chamber of Commerce had a meeting on this subject, and there will continue to be discussion on the issue.