(File Photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Mat Barrett

Melfort Council

Saskatchewan Drive, water mains, speeding, topics at Melfort Council meeting

Jul 13, 2021 | 9:50 AM

The City of Melfort held their regular council meeting on Monday, July 12, back at the City Hall Council Chambers due to provincial health restrictions being lifted.

Council discussed a number of topics at the meeting, including designating one of Melfort’s major streets to honour our veterans, another capital project over budget, and the report from Broadway Avenue South.

Veterans Way

At Monday’s meeting, council voted in favour of designating Saskatchewan Drive as Veterans Way. The suggestion came from Communities in Bloom and started about a year ago according to Mayor Glenn George.

The plan behind designating the street would be signage with Veterans Way on it, as well as the Legion selling banners to honour veterans from the area. George called it a great idea.

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“Every person that is going to be on that banner either gave his life or (fought for the country) so that we could be a free country and enjoy what we enjoy today, period,” he said. “I mean, they’re true heroes.”

The hope is that banners and signage are up before Remembrance Day.

The street will still be Saskatchewan Drive, but can also go by Veterans Way. George said to completely rename it would have been a much more complicated process which would include all businesses on that street changing their address.

Watermain Replacement

The City of Melfort had plans for numerous watermain replacements in the city in 2021, however things will be scaled back a bit.

The project has come in about $54,000 over budget with over costs not included in the tender. As a result, the city will be scaling back the project and will be doing work on Broadway Avenue South to Westley Street, Charles Street, and Frost Drive as those have been prioritized. George said the reasoning behind another project over budget is simple.

“It’s because of pricing,” George said. “Pricing has gone up and maybe we didn’t do our due diligence, and we’re going to now.”

He said the COVID-19 pandemic had a part to play in that as well.

The Kerry Vickar Centre backup power project also came in over budget recently, and had to be put off to a later date. George said another over budget project doesn’t worry him though as the current prices will be taken into account as they work through their next budget. Some funds have also been set aside for engineering and design of the 2022 watermain and road construction projects.

Broadway Avenue South

Watermains weren’t the only thing talked about on Monday when it came to Broadway Avenue South. The Heavy Truck Route on that road has been a topic at the city for some time now, and they have gotten a report back on traffic in the area.

The report showed that 63 per cent of vehicles travelling on that road during the span of time in April were speeding. As a result, the city has worked with RCMP and will be getting more patrols in that area. The city is also looking into grants for radar signs.

The results didn’t give enough information regarding the Heavy Truck Route portion, but George said it is a work in progress.

“We’re going to do that again in a busy season,” he said. “Maybe harvest time.”

He said with work happening on Broadway this summer, more traffic evaluations will be taking place next year.

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mat.barrett@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @matbarrett6