The following are highlights from two Town of Battleford council meetings in April.
The town received a proposal from the Saskatchewan Land Surveyors Association, in which the association expressed interest in setting up a museum in the old St. Vital church.
In a letter to the town from Michael Waschuk, Waschuk said he wanted the museum to be located in the Battlefords given the region’s surveying history.
The Battlefords and District Museum and Heritage Board expressed interest in housing artifacts and displays pertaining to surveying history in the church. According to Museum Manager Bernadette Leslie, the town would be removing the pews, some structural work would have to be done on the building, and the remains of the priest (who is buried in the location) would need to be removed and relocated.
Council will make a decision at a later date.
More details are available regarding the process of restoring Town Hall’s brickwork. Structural engineering company JC Kenyon developed recommendations for work, including preparing detailed drawings, assistance with evaluating the bidder’s qualifications, reviewing mock-ups, coordinating meetings, inspections of the work, and a warrantee review after a year.
Fees for the work are $15,500 plus travel costs.
Brad Taylor of JC Kenyon wrote after the company completes the above work, the town could tender the masonry work to be completed in the summer of 2018. Depending on who is doing the work and the size of the crew, the brickwork could take two to three weeks.
Chief administrative officer John Enns-Wind wrote Taylor’s outcomes have been on time and on budget, and “the net effect for the town has been significant due to the accuracy of his findings.”
The Battlefords and District Museum and Heritage Board Museum sold 447 cash calendars, which exceeded expectations.
The town declared May 7-12 to be Mental Health Week, after receiving a letter from the Canadian Mental Health Association.
The new waste transfer station is operational as of Wednesday, April 19.
Cannabis update:
Zoning bylaws pertaining to cannabis sales have passed. A first reading of the bylaws were approved in March, and second and third readings were approved after no one came for a public hearing.
Rules include a retail outlet must be 150 metres from schools and playgrounds, and signs for retail stores and grow operations cannot contain any images.
The Town has been allowed one retail outlet. It is unclear where a cannabis shop would be, although a location could potentially be downtown or off the highway northwest of town.
