ESTEVAN - Estevan city council has approved flying the Progress Pride Flag in front of Estevan city hall from June 23-30.
Derek (Stryx) Dubowski made the request at the June 10 meeting of Estevan city council. He said his request was in response to last year, when the Concerned Citizens Estevan SK group wanted to have the Straight Pride Flag flown at city hall and to have a Mom and Dad Week. Council denied the Concerned Citizens' request.
"This city council was impassioned yet dignified in their response to that particular situation," said Dubowski.
The Progress Pride Flag represents progress that has been made and work that remains. It is a six-band rainbow pride flag with the addition of a multi-coloured chevron on the left side of the flag that points to the right.
In addition to white, the chevron is pink and blue, representing transgender, non-binary and gender-diverse individuals; brown for black, Indigenous and people of colour; and black for those who have died in the fight for progress.
Council expressed their support with Dubowski's request and voiced their support for diversity in the community.
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Council approved a request from Estevan Minor Baseball for a $21,355.16 loan to install new shale on the ball diamonds at Mel Murray Cactus Park and Lynn Prime Park.
Murray said the shale is needed for Estevan to host provincial baseball tournaments on back-to-back weekends in July. Twenty-four teams are expected to come to Estevan each weekend. Murray added minor ball didn't have the money to do the work themselves.
"We need to put shale on these diamonds because we're down to the clay. When we drag and harrow, we're bringing up clay now," said Murray.
Coun. Rebecca Foord pointed out minor ball already has a loan with the city. Murray said minor ball should be able to pay off both loans once these tournaments are finished.
Mayor Roy Ludwig – who attended the meeting virtually from Calgary – wanted to know if minor ball was willing to fundraise for the shale project, but Murray said they can't keep going back to the same people.
Ludwig and Coun. Kirsten Walliser voted against the motion. Walliser cited her desire to see these requests come into management in late summer or early fall for budget deliberations. Murray said minor ball was fundraising for a washroom project that went overbudget, so there wasn't enough money for the shale.
Minor ball has $12,000 remaining on the previous loan. Now it will pay back the city $6,000 per year between the two loans.
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Council tabled a request from Jennifer Kuchinka for a $1,000 sponsorship request for the Saskatchewan Brain Injury Association. Council has already allowed Kuchinka to have a fundraising walk for the Brain Injury Association at Woodlawn Regional Park in September.
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Seven building permits worth $1,425,000 were issued in May, bringing the total for the year to 16 permits worth $4,341,801.
Four permits were classified as institutional and carried a total value of $1.3 million. Two were garages worth a total of $75,000, and one was institutional for $50,000.
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Council gave first reading to an updated cemetery bylaw. Parks manager Shannon Wanner said the changes will tend to a few things that were lacking, and provide clarification for funeral homes. It will also address some issues with headstones.
Second and third readings are slated for a future meeting.
Council also gave second and third readings to the new building bylaw. The document will now be sent for provincial approval. The document had previously been rejected at the provincial level because of deficiencies in some areas.
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Councillors Shelly Veroba, Walliser and Foord attended the Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention with Mayor Roy Ludwig in Calgary earlier this month. They provided a recap on some of the ideas they heard and sessions they attended that could help improve the community.
