No decision has yet been made about whether the City of Weyburn’s Community Gardens will be open this season or not.
The council meeting was held electronically on April 14, as the City used Zoom to connect with each other and with the media.
“We are monitoring the COVID-19 situation closely and will be following the advice of health officials to adjust our operating dates and business practices as needed,” states information on the web page for the garden plots.
“It’s something we’re looking at right now,” said Andrew Crowe, director of leisure services, noting that the restrictions on physical distancing is one the City has to be careful of.
“We’re cautiously optimistic that things will turn around and we’ll be able to open up our parks and spaces again to the public,” he said. Currently, the City has asked the public not to use public facilities like playground equipment or ball diamonds, and have closed all city-owned public facilities. “It’s something that’s on our radar, but we don’t have a for-sure answer at this time.”
The City of Weyburn Community Gardens are located next to the Signal Hill Arts Centre. There are 60 garden plots that are normally open between May 1 and October 31 for non-commercial use. Due to the high demand, the garden plots are available to Weyburn residents only.
To be put on the waiting list for the Community Garden spots, contact the Parks Department at (306) 848-3290 or email to [email protected]. There are no available garden plots at the current time.
• In other business, city council approved a proposal to defer the interest charged on late payments of city property taxes for three months, while people are being impacted by restrictions around the COVID-19 pandemic.
Normally property tax notices are issued in May with a deadline of July 31 before interest is applied, with penalties usually starting on Aug. 1 at a rate of 1.5 per cent on the balance owing.
The deferral approved by council will postpone the date of when interest charges will be applied until Nov. 1st.
“This doesn’t mean that taxes aren’t due, but will rather give some interim relief to taxpayers to defer their payments without interest,” said Laura Missal, director of finance for the City of Weyburn.
For those taxpayers who have arranged for pre-authorized payments of their taxes, those will continue and no interest is applied since payment arrangements are in place, she noted.
• Council tabled a request to buy a new refuse collection truck as some councillors wanted more information to be provided before spending the money.
The City had asked for tender bids for a new refuse collection truck, and of the five bids received, administration decided to accept the bid from Westvac Industrial for a 2021 Freightliner M2-106 for the net cost of $307,966. This price will not include any trade-in of the City’s current refuse collection truck.
The director of engineering told councillors the current truck is not reliable any more to operate like it’s supposed to, and when it doesn’t work a third party truck has to be hired to come in to pick up the refuse bins in the residential neighbourhoods.
Coun. Dick Michel wanted council to make the decision to buy the truck right away, but other councillors felt they needed more information first before they can support this expense.
The proposal to buy the truck will come back to the next council meeting, set for Monday, April 27.
