ESTEVAN - In keeping with tradition, Estevan Mayor Roy Ludwig opened the first meeting of Estevan city council of the year by delivering the mayor's address.
Ludwig reflected on many of the highlights for the community and the City of Estevan during the past 12 months, including events that took place, accolades for local residents and developments for the community.
He was pleased to see the success of the Viterra Scotties Tournament of Hearts provincial women's curling championship last January and the SaskTel Tankard provincial men's event in February. Both events were at Affinity Place and brought many people to the community.
The city reached three-year collective bargaining agreements with CUPE Local 726, which represents the city's unionized employees, and the Estevan Police Association, which is the union for members of the Estevan Police Service. The city also contracted Magna Engineering for a study on potential upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant.
Ludwig also praised Gordon More and the Southeast Techhub for More's work with robotics and innovation.
The city is hopeful that a new MRI scanner will be approved for St. Joseph's Hospital in the upcoming provincial budget, and the city is still working with the province on a new nursing home.
"I've been on the … [new nursing home] committee from the beginning," said Ludwig. "We're on our 18th year. But we're still optimistic, we're still positive and we'll continue to meet with the province and continue, hopefully, to move that project forward."
The city continues to work on mental health and addictions issues, which remain a problem in the community. Under the guidance of the province, a new Community Safety and Well-being Group has been formed that meets once a month to discuss prevalent issues.
"As we look inward to some of the challenges, which sometimes are very painful, we realize that pain is part of the healing process to turn some of these issues around. We need all hands on deck. We need to collaborate with our federal and provincial partners, especially on the mental health and addictions side," he said.
The city is also lobbying regarding the location of the first proposed small modular reactor in the province. A decision on a location is expected this year; Estevan and Elbow are the perceived choices.
The city has a number of projects planned for this year, he said, including the completion of the new play structure at Churchill Playpark. Infrastructure upgrades will continue and the city will continue to pay down debt.
"Although we have the shelf-ready downtown project, we're still waiting for further federal funding to complete the project," he said.
Ludwig noted this will be the final year for the present council. He thanked the councillors and staff for their contributions to the community.
"I have enjoyed my time on council, and I would like to thank the community for their continued support," said Ludwig, who has announced that he won't seek re-election in the 2024 civic vote, meaning this would be his final mayor's address.
