NORTH BATTLEFORD - Monday night’s city council meeting in North Battleford marked some history.
It was the final official meeting held at the council chambers on the second floor at City Hall. Council moves their meetings permanently now to their new council chambers in room 107 of Don Ross Centre, with plans for a grand opening ceremony next Monday, March 4 at 4 p.m. in the afternoon.
It marks the end of an era for the chambers on the second floor of City Hall, a locale that had seen countless Mayors and councillors make historic and momentous decisions impacting North Battleford over a number of decades.
But in reality, regular meetings at that location had been few and far between for most of the last four years.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic had forced councillors to hold meetings virtually on the Zoom platform for an extended period of time starting in April 2020. For a period of time, council held live meetings at the Chapel Gallery which was considered spacious enough to accommodate social distancing.
The lengthy stretch of time away from City Hall prompted a discussion by council members about whether to consider a permanent move of council meetings out of City Hall.
The decision was then made to move to Don Ross Centre Room 107 on a regular basis as of April 11, 2022. Don Ross Centre was already home to a number of City offices and Room 107 had been regularly utilized by the City for public presentations and open-house events in the past.
The main reason cited was that Don Ross Centre was more accessible compared to the City Hall chamber, which can only be accessed by going up a flight of stairs.
Even after the move, the Don Ross meeting space still had a “temporary” feel as the venue remained in need of extensive upgrades to address a host of issues, including the sound quality.
Finally, in October 2023, the long-awaited renovations commenced at the Don Ross location. When those were announced last fall, the City stated it would involve construction and installation of a new City Council bench and administrative tables, lighting improvements, new doors and a dropped-tile ceiling, technology improvements to audio and video, and sound-absorbing panelling on the walls.
To accommodate construction, council relocated back to their old City Hall venue, where they continued to hold regular council and Planning Committee meetings, as well as 2024 budget deliberations, up until Monday night.
The final council meeting at City Hall was a relatively routine one, with agenda items including an update from Citizens on Patrol as well as from Canadian Mental Health Association - Battlefords on the David Laird Campground agreement renewal.
To mark the official end of meetings in the City Hall chamber, City Manager Randy Patrick presented each of the councillors with a keepsake: their nameplates from their desks. He explained those wouldn’t be needed at the Don Ross location, which will feature new name tags.
Patrick described the new venue as “a very nice Council chamber with really good sound” — a reference to the sound quality issues the City has had at meetings previously, including at City Hall.
Council members are looking forward to finally making “permanent” their move to the Don Ross Centre.
“It’s very exciting, very exciting that will be able to have a new chamber operating at the next meeting,” said Mayor David Gillan.
As for the old City Hall venue, it's not clear what will become of the old Chambers, though Gillan noted it could still be used in the event of an emergency.
While the grand opening is March 4, the first actual council meeting in the newly-renovated Don Ross venue will not be until March 11.
