KAMSACK — In a recent meeting with Kamsack chief administrative officer, Barry Hvidston, the KamKids daycare relocation, the library relocation, CIP tank replacement, along with other topics were discussed on March 1.
KamKids relocation
A matter brought up was the potential relocation of KamKids, following the closure of the Crowstand Centre. The organization sought approval from the council to establish a new facility on Banks Crescent, prompting discussions regarding zoning regulations and public hearings.
“KamKids was part of the Crowstand Centre. They’re looking for a new home just like the other tenants and they came to us with a location on Banks Crescent. According to our zoning bylaws, it is a discretionary use of council. So we have to notify everybody within 75 metres of the site. Plus, advertise it in the paper plus a few other items and a few other advertising avenues that we’ve been doing. At the meeting on March 11, we’re going to have a public hearing just to see who’s interested, who isn’t and then council will make a decision at that time whether to allow Camp Kids to have the site that they wish to have that’s within a residential area.”
Library relocation
Additionally, discussions revolved around the search for a new location for the town library, with Hvidston clarifying misconceptions about the council’s stance on the matter. He emphasized the council’s support for the library and outlined ongoing negotiations with the Kamsack seniors club for a temporary site.
“With the Crowstand Center shut t i ng down we’ve had a lot of people asking when or where a new library is going to be placed. We’ve had a lot of rumours that council does not want a library, that we want to shut it down and say ‘Goodbye.’ That is 100 per cent false, the council is a huge proponent of the library. We looked at the mall, we looked at other buildings. Now we’re in the last stages of negotiation with Kamsack seniors club to use the back area of their senior centre for a short term whether that short term is a year, whether it’s two years. It’s just a short term that we’re looking at until we can get a more permanent location. We do have one that we’d like to see happen.
And I’ve got some engineers coming down next week to look at the Crowstand Centre and to look at this other location to see if it’ll be a suitable location for it. Just to see, can we have it as a permanent location? I’m really hoping we can. But we’ll see what they say.”
Engineers to take a look
Hvidston went into further detail about the engineers who will be investigating the Crowstand Centre.
“They’re bringing in five types of engineer, environmental engineer, structural engineer, electrical engineer architectural engineer, and mechanical engineer. They’re going to just have a whole look at the Crowstand Centre to see if it’s as bad as we anticipate, that it’s not going to be able to be opened again. But it’s good to have somebody go in there as an engineering firm and say if it’s a yes or no, then they’re going to look at the next steps and say, ‘OK, how can we get rid of it?’ So remove it. There is asbestos in there. So we don’t know what we can do with that asbestos. A lot of the building could go into the CND site that we have in the landfill site we have outside of town here, but the asbestos and a few other things cannot. So we need that report and the guidelines in that as well. But we are looking at it just to see if can it be opened. If it can be reopened, what repairs need to be done with it? And that’s what these guys are going to be telling us. We’re also looking at a couple other buildings for the library.”
Hvidston went into further detail about the asbestos found in the building, saying, “In the Crowstand Centre there’s a fire suppression system in the walls. The walls are cement, like cinder block. And these fire suppression systems go through the cinderblock. It’s the fire suppression system that ended up getting holes in it. The fire suppression system also has the asbestos around it, and so does the boiler system that does the heating. So it’s around the heating pipes as well, and it’s those pipes all throughout the building that are jeopardized, which caused issues with our foundation. And that’s why we anticipate it’s just going to be too much to repair it. But it’s good to have a third party to come in and confirm whether or not it can be opened.”
Quorum
Hvidston addressed the issue of quorum during council meetings, noting that a recent meeting had to be postponed due to the lack of necessary participation. He explained that a minimum of 50 per cent of council members plus one is required for quorum, a threshold that wasn’t met due to the absence of a counsellor and the mayor. Consequently, some minutes were not officially passed during the meeting.
Holding tank
One significant topic discussed was the issue with the Cleaning in Place (CIP) holding tank, which faced challenges due to a leak. Hvidston outlined the process of finding a suitable replacement, including exploring cheaper developmental alternatives and ultimately settling on a new tank despite the financial implications.
“We were given a fairly high quote, to replace the CIP tank. We talked with a company who thought they could make a holding tank for a lot cheaper. But it was in development. So they made an arrangement with the town to assist in the development of this tank. And we finally got the results back in December, it failed quality control. There were three chemicals that were being released by this tank. And we figured they could fix two of them. But the third one (phenyloxirane) they couldn’t fix. So we ended up leaving that development. And in the meantime, Carl, our water treatment plant operator, actually found one for half the price of what we were quoting before. So that’s why we decided to go with the new tank. It’s still a $40,000 hit, but it has to be done.”
Fire training
To finish the meeting, Hvidston relayed some information from the Fire Department.
“The fire department is excited about this. They are having a cold water rescue course out at Madge Lake in March. They ’re bringing in fire departments around the area. So two or three people from a whole bunch of fire departments are coming down and they’re bringing in somebody that’s got some equipment for water rescue as well. And the nice thing is a big shout out to the Affinity Credit Union because they ’ve made a donation towards this. And I think it’s going to be an excellent thing because we’ve got water all over the place in this area. And it’ll teach them how to rescue people in open water. They ’ve asked the staff at the town office to put on a suit to jump in the water. I guess there was one volunteer, but I haven’t heard many volunteers for it. The other part of it that the fire department asked me to say is they’re always looking for recruits, just like every fire department in Saskatchewan probably they’re looking for additional members. And the Woodlander fire that we had proves why we need them.”
