The City of Weyburn has been asked to help look after the Soo Line Historical Museum as it will be closed for the first two months of 2015, council learned at their meeting on Nov. 10.
The Soo Line Historical Society requested the city's assistance while the museum is scheduled to be closed from Monday, Jan. 5 to March 1, 2015, inclusive, to save money.
The city is being asked to make a daily check on the premises during this period, to call in repair people should an emergency arise in the building, and to shovel snow away when tours of six or more clients are scheduled.
"This is the first time I've ever seen this request come to council," said Coun. Dick Michel.
"It's probably a sign of things to come over there. Closing for any amount of time sends different messages to people. I hope this is resolved soon," he said.
"We're only doing it because the traffic is really, really low for January and February," explained museum manager Joan Gregory, who noted this is a measure to help save costs for the museum. While tours can be booked, she said in recent years there have not been any tours booked in those two months; she added it made no sense to have the museum open when no one is coming in to see it.
"We're doing very well," added Gregory. "We don't want to get into financial problems; that's why we're doing this."
Weyburn Tourism was informed recently of the closure.
Construction activities continued in Weyburn with 13 building permits approved for October.
The permits had a total construction value of $2,335,000, and were broken down as follows.
One permit was for a commercial addition with a value of $80,000; two were for new industrial development worth $500,000; three permits were issued for new detached garages worth a total of $183,000; three permits were for residential additions and alterations with a construction value of $92,500; three were for single-family homes with a total value of $1,080,000; and one permit was for a new four-unit multi-family dwelling with a construction value of $400,000.
One of the permits was reviewed and approved through Professional Building Inspections.
This brings the year-to-date to 121 building permits, with a total construction value of $27,975,200; this compares to a year ago when the city had issued 105 building permits worth $62,872,112.
In the report to council from Public Works and Parks, crews were kept busy with excavations and repairs, street repairs, and parks maintenance activities.
From the sewer and water division, crews had to do excavations and repairs at nine locations during October; five were water service connections, one was a watermain repair, two were watermain valve replacements, and one was a sewer main repair and manhole replacement at the intersection of Fifth Street and Fifth Avenue North.
In addition, there were a number of repairs made which did not require any excavation. The fall release from storage cells began Oct. 7 and finished in early November, and a fall inspection and maintenance was carried out at the Ab Douglas Dam at Nickle Lake.
From the streets and roads division, the asphalt and concrete crew did street patching on Fifth Street, Eighth Street and Third Street South, and they formed and poured sidewalk and/or curb repairs on Second Street, McGillivray Drive, Coteau Avenue and 14th Street.
Residential street sweeping was conducted throughout October and finished in early November. Refuse collection occurred through the month, and the city received a new refuse truck around mid-November.
Paving contractors completed the new paving in River Park in late October; all road surfaces in the park have been repaved, including portions which were done in 2012.
The parks division also reported that six new benches and concrete pads were installed at various locations in Jubilee Park, and staff received several positive comments from park users during the installations.
The 2015 tree planting program was completed during the week of Oct. 13, with 40 trees being planted, primarily along boulevards in various locations throughout the city.
Council approved two changes to the zoning bylaw, including one for Terra Developments for their development plans in The Creeks area, and one for homeowner Morley Giroux and Darlene Macmillan.
The approval for Terra Developments will rezone a part of their land from Urban Holdings to Major Arterial Commercial, to help allow for development of commercial lands along Highway 13 next to the residential development of The Creeks.
The Highway 13 East highway commercial corridor is one of the last remaining Highway Commercial expansion opportunities that are left in Weyburn; Terra Developments is looking at using 18 acres of this property for Highway Commercial land.
In the second rezoning case, Giroux's home on First Avenue SW has had water drainage issues, and he needed it rezoned from Light Industrial to Residential Older Neighbourhood to allow for the landscaping and drainage improvements that he was planning for his property.
The local improvement projects have been completed, both the held-over ones from 2013 and the ones scheduled for 2014; the final charges were tallied, and notices for all property owners were mailed out on Wednesday.
For prepayment, the city needs to be paid by Dec. 31, 2014, and where charges were not prepaid, annual instalments will be added to and will form part of the taxes for periods of either five or 10 years, depending on the project.
For the 2013 projects which were carried over, the estimated total cost was $510,877, with the actual cost coming in at $488,572.
The recapping projects for 2014 had an estimated cost of $391,314, and an actual cost of $378,351; and the sidewalks and curbs had an estimated cost of $75,600, and an actual cost of $106,504.
On the actual costs, the property owner's share for the 2013 recapping is $156,594; for 2014 recapping is $126,434; and for concrete sidewalks, the property owner's share is $55,575.
