KIPLING — Kipling Mayor Pat Jackson says 2024 is going to be a busy one for the community.
The first item she mentioned was both a great opportunity for Kipling and surrounding area and a challenge—the Kipling Arena.
“We’ve been doing upgrades on our arena for the last two or three years,” said Jackson. “Our arena is old, but like every other community, replacing an arena is a lot of work and a lot of effort. So this past year, it was a challenge.”
Key funding initiatives were able to greatly assist in the renovations, something Jackson was quite grateful for.
“We were blessed with ICIP (Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program) funding, but our upgrade—phase two of our project—was $416,000. From ICIP, we got $305,000 and we also were again blessed with some other grants, one of them for $50,000 from Richardson Pioneer,” she explained. “So over and above that, we also put another quarter of a million into ice plants improvements. So you know, it’s getting enough funding. Yes, we’ve had reserves, but we also do not want to annihilate the reserves. That’s part of what all communities want to be able to keep so that we can be working toward replacing the arena.”
Being able to work well with your neighbours is key for any small municipality, and Kipling has the good fortune of having a partnership with a pair of rural municipalities to help push regional projects along.
“The Town and our two neighbouring RMs (RM of Kingsley and RM of Hazelwood), we’ve worked together on a lot of projects including the arena upgrade because we do have a joint Leisure Services committee that oversees,” explained Jackson. “So we did a feasibility study for a new arena and now the joint committee has taken it to the three councils and we’re looking at what’s the next step. I’m suspecting that it will be a several year project, but you have to start with one step.”
“Current council would like to make sure that the facility is upgraded to the point where it can last until such time as available grants plus local fundraising can see their way to a new facility,” she concluded.
Another opportunity Jackson pointed to was a ‘shining’ example of safety in action.
“I would say something on the real plus side as a safety thing, we got an SGI traffic safety grant for just under $19,000 and we put a solar powered radar sign along the highway at each side of town,” she explained. “We also put in a solar-powered pedestrian crosswalk from the school across to the daycare our school-aged children often go to after school. It’s also crossing where the bus lane is.”
Local reaction to the crosswalk has been positive, providing enhanced safety for children crossing the street.
“We thought it was probably a good safety feature and we’ve sure been hearing that people appreciate it. The parents of children are really happy about it,” Jackson said.
One challenge leading into the New Year will be the search for a new Chief Administrative Officer as current CAO Gail Dakue announced her retirement from the position.
“She has made the decision it’s time to retire and we’re on the hunt for someone to take on the CAO role,” Jackson noted. “We’ve had some very promising resumes, so I’m hopeful.
“Someone new in the office is going to mean a certain amount of change, a certain amount of hill climbing, if you will, for everybody,” she continued. “We’ve all got a learning curve.”
Kipling Town Council has also been exploring an exciting venture sure to refresh residents and visitors during those hot summer days.
“One project that has been sort of earmarked as a next year project is a splash park,” Jackson said. “We’ve been talking about it for a while and it’s trying to find the perfect location—should it be near the pool, which is also near the campground? Should it be near the arena? All kinds of discussion on that.”
Next November means municipal elections, and Jackson noted that she doesn’t plan to remain on Town Council after that time. She reflected on some of the good work and strides to enhance the community over the years.
“I’m pretty proud of what the Council over the last 20 years has done in making sure that the community is on a very solid footing,” Jackson said. “Our council, over the last several years, we have dealt with the lagoon situation. It’s ready for a fairly significant increase in population should that happen. Our Water Treatment Plant came online in 2019, just before Covid hit, so it’s all redone and was able to provide water for the wind farm project, as well as for all of the town needs. We did not have any shortages, even with that massive extra amount of usage.
“The hospital is up to date, the school could use an extra classroom or two, but that’s nothing we can deal with,” she continued. “In the last three years, we’ve got the library into much better digs.”
With so many amenities available, Jackson is excited to welcome new faces to Kipling, confident the town has everything to meet a new family’s needs.
“People move to a community based upon, among other things, a hospital or a school, good water, adequate recreation for their families, whatever age their families may be,” she said. “Those are the kinds of things that pull them in.”
Another attraction is something other areas may be in short supply of—trees. In conversation, Jackson shared having viewed a photo of Kipling some 75 years ago “and it was a treeless, barren place.”
“We’ve got a lot of elm trees, approximately 150 of them,” she said. “We made the decision around 15 years ago that we would do a survey every year. We just budget to have someone come in who checks the trees annually. Last year, we had to remove one rather quickly. One. This year we didn’t have to remove any. It’s keeping our urban forest in good shape.”
That diligent maintenance will certainly ensure future generations will enjoy the wooded wonders of Kipling.
