Esterhazy council convinced census numbers are wrong

CAO Mike Thorley said the 2021 shows that Esterhazy’s population is 2,435 citizens compared to the 2016 census showing that Estherhazy’s population was 2,502 individuals.

“We’re down 157 people according to the federal census. There is definitely pluses and minuses when it comes to that,” he said.

“When I say pluses and minuses, of course a lot of the money we receive, runs based on your population.”

Council members discussed that other surrounding communities are also stating their census numbers do not match their current population.

“Over the last year we had census people phoning our office asking for phone numbers, addresses, those types of things, so they can contact a member at each house to verify. So they were working at this, but I agree with all of you, I don’t think they are accurate numbers,” said Thorley.

Mayor Grant Forster suggested contacting someone in order to correct Esterhazy’s numbers.

“I wonder if we can contact StatsCan or whoever is in charge, and voice our concern because this is going to cost us money,” said Forster.

“Our provincial revenue sharing is based on this and anything else that comes out, federal grants, the Covid funds that Trudeau gave us was based on our population, so I think we should at least try to get our voices heard and let them know that these numbers are not accurate.”

Economic Development Director Tammy MacDonald expressed her concerns regarding the recent report.

“If you look at the 1,500 residential homes in the community, that report is saying more than half of our houses have one person living in them,”she said.

“Most houses have more than two people living in them, so there’s no way these numbers can be correct when we look at the number of residential homes and they’re full.”

Council members decided that CAO Thorley will look further into investigating who can be contacted in order for the town to express their concerns.

Tax abatement approved for two businesses

Esterhazy town council passed a motion to approve municipal tax abatements over a three-year period for two businesses.

One of the businesses is the Esterhazy Liquor Store—a new business located at 1302 Park Avenue that opened its doors on Feb. 18—and the other is Crushrite Concrete which added a new building to its property at 902 Gonczy Avenue.

The town’s Commercial and Industrial Development Tax Incentive gives tax abatements to new businesses or additions to businesses valued at $150,000 or more.

For each business, council approved a motion for a 100 per cent abatement the first year, a 75 per abatement the second year, and a 50 per cent abatement the third year.

Town approves purchase and installation of new well pump

Council passed two motions regarding the purchase of a submersible pump for the town’s well, and a motion for the installation of the pump.

The cost for the submersible pump, motor and accessories was approved by council members for $10,614.82. 

Council received two quotes for the installation of the pump, and passed a motion to go with Andrews & Sons for a cost of $4,144.30.

“We have four wells that help feed our water, one of our wells is down right now,” said CAO Mike Thorley.

“We rotate them on a regular basis, and one of the wells is down so these are the parts needed to replace the motor and so forth.”

Both expenses will be covered by the town’s operational budget.

Mosaic donates to Daycare

Council received a letter from Mosaic saying they were planning to donate $35,000 to the Esterhazy Community Daycare.

“The Daycare Committee in Esterhazy, made up of a number of employees from our Esterhazy sites, has worked to determine the needs of our employees who use daycares,” wrote Tyler Hopson with Mosaic. “The committee surveyed employees to determine which community daycare they currently use, and what their preferred daycare would be. We have reviewed the employee feedback and will be making investments to help daycares in the area remain sustainable and continue to provide needed childcare to our Mosaic employees and the wider community.

“Mosaic is making an investment of $35,000 to support Esterhazy Community Daycare. We hope this additional funding will help continue to provide exceptional childcare for families.”

Council members were happy to hear that Mosaic came forward to support the daycare with the investment.

Motion passed for commercial lots

Esterhazy town council passed a motion to give a business the option to purchase two commercial lots on Broadview Road. The business is putting a deposit on the lots, and the lots will be held for two year, with the business having first right of refusal. The price of the two lots is $81,800.

Installation of washrooms during construction of town’s water system

At the suggestion of their engineers, council passed a motion to work with the high school to construct an 8-foot by 12-foot washroom building at the site where the town’s new water treatment plant is being built.

“This is part of the process of the project, there are going to be trailers and so forth from our engineering group, as well as the companies that will be working there,” said CAO Mike Thorley.

“We want to have a washroom facility that’s made accessible to everyone on site.”

Council decided to have the high school build the washroom facility.

“We would have the school build it, we would have it as a working process through the high school where they can build it for us. We would provide the materials for it, and we would put the finishing touches on the site afterwards.”

“I think from a community standpoint, it makes sense to get the school involved and have them learn from it,” said Mayor Grant Forster.

Construction for the water treatment plants is expected to start this spring.

Board of Excellence Panels

Council discussed the possibility of creating a permanent Board of Excellence, as the town’s current panels on the board are updated with new names throughout the year. 

Currently, the panels are placed along the highway in Esterhazy and consist of names of community members who have national recognition for achievements.

Town council received a request to add a name to the panel, however because the individual has local recognition and not national recognition, council discussed the possibility of creating a new board that will include everyone’s names.

Council decided to have the committee for the Board of Excellence look further into the possibility of installing a panel with all the names of community members who have national and local recognition. 

It will be placed somewhere near its current location.

Councillors discussed whether they should make a permanent Board of Excellence with prior panel names, in addition to new names.

Breakdown of Sask lottery grants

Rec Director Garth Forster presented a breakdown from the last 10 years of Sask Lotteries grant money received by the town, and which organizations have received that money. He informed council members that the total amount given to groups in the community was $269,317 since 2011.

Every year towns in receive a grant from Sask Lotteries to distribute it to community clubs and organizations. 

Recreation groups, sports groups, school groups, arts groups, and town programs are some of the organizations that have received money over the years.

Concerns about outdoor rink

Councillor Vern Petracek said he was concerned about some cracking in the ice at the outdoor rink. He said he worried that people could be injured if they fell.

Council decided to follow up with the rink’s maintenance person about keeping an extra pair of eyes on the rink and to maintain its flooding.

MacDonald to take Indigenous workshop

Councillors discussed a Tourism Saskatchewan workshop where businesses or municipalities partner up with Indigenous communities.

“In our area we don’t have a large Indigenous group in Esterhazy or directly close to Esterhazy, but there’s opportunities with the groups that are close enough to us, that there’s a potential to get partnerships in place,” said CAO Mike Thorley. 

“If we want to get a regional hospital, those are some of the communities that would use the hospital. We think there’s a need and a want for partnerships to happen with those potential Indigenous communities.”

Councillor Tammy MacDonald will be taking the two online courses of the workshop in March and follow up with council afterwards.