ESTEVAN - It appears the City of Estevan is going to have to add a new electronic digital display sign in front of the Estevan Leisure Centre for the 2025 budget.
In a report to council at the Feb. 10 meeting, marketing and communications manager Jacquelyn Massey-Rounds said the current sign malfunctioned during the week of January 13-17 and has experienced recurring issues over the past few years, requiring manual restarts.
"Additionally, while we experience these outages, there is no clear indication that the display is down unless it is visually observed," said Massey-Rounds.
The display is significantly outdated, she said, with a resolution that no longer meets even the standards recommended a decade ago, making it extremely ineffective for advertising purposes. The current resolution is 540 x 240; by comparison, she said the most recent iPhone has a 2,556x1,179 resolution.
A replacement would meet the current standards with a resolution that would meet an iPhone screen, she said, so the city could use 4K video and have remote access.
She also told council the city doesn't know the lifespan of the current board.
The frame for the sign was built in 2015 and the current electronic panels were added in 2016.
Massey-Rounds said Dynamic Signs is able to replace the current display to fit within the existing framing. A quote provided in September 2024 for the removal of the old board, and the purchase and installation of the new display was $52,302, excluding applicable taxes.
She believes a new display will allow for higher-quality visuals, offering a more effective platform for promoting leisure services and other community-related advertisements.
Coun. Dave Elliott asked about the impact on the leisure services budget. City manager Jeff Ward replied this came up after the budget was presented to council, and the city decided it was best to discuss it now rather than at the end of the budget process.
Coun. Shelly Veroba said it's nice to have the sign because it is used quite a lot. She believes it should be moved to within the leisure services budget, even if it's at the expense of other projects.
"Quite often what happens is we proceed with these projects, but then they don't get completed within the budget year, so they get moved to the next year anyways."
When the city had public meetings earlier in February to discuss the budget, Ward said they had some other ideas from the public on projects they'd like to see included, and Ward said the city could bring forward a list of those changes.
Coun. Brian Johnson said he believes this item should have been included in the 2025 budget, because it allows users to know what is happening in the leisure centre.
The budget is expected to be passed at the Feb. 24 meeting.
