Rosetown council to press province on doctors, infrastructure funding at SUMA convention

By Ian MacKay

Rosetown councillors hope to lobby at least two provincial cabinet ministers next month during the annual convention of the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association.

Council agreed at its Feb. 17 meeting to seek discussions with Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill and Government Relations Minister Eric Schmalz during the convention, scheduled for April 12-15 in Regina.

“The first thing we should be lobbying for is (more) doctors in town,” Mayor Trevor Hay said.

Hay said council also wants to discuss how to strengthen its grant application for the town’s planned eastern neighbourhood development.

“We need a lift station and we’re going to be needing (residential) lots soon,” he said.

Councillor Jan Coffey-Olson said the province should enhance municipal infrastructure programs.

“We can’t seem to afford” to replace or upgrade roads and water and sewer lines, she said, adding the situation makes her hesitant to expand infrastructure.

Hay recalled local leaders met last year with the then highways minister about the need to upgrade Javens Road along the town’s western boundary if provincial officials intend to designate it as a heavy-haul route.

He added that the addition of passing lanes on Highway 7 between Saskatoon and Alsask appears to have ended discussion of twinning the highway from Saskatoon to the Alberta boundary.

Hay said communities across Saskatchewan have sought the ability to levy higher taxes on land contaminated primarily by petroleum leaks, but the province does not allow municipalities to create a separate tax class for such properties.

“They want everything to be treated equally, so all empty lots across the board are in the same class,” he said. “We’ve been lobbying for that for several years and just hit the same dead-end wall.”

Council members agreed Schmalz would also be the appropriate minister to approach regarding grant applications, rezoning of vacant contaminated land, and issues related to firefighting and policing.

“I still think we need to get some kind of an allowance to help our fire and rescue condition, whether it’s to do with full-time wages, more equipment, more people (or) more hiring,” councillor Greg Carlson said.

Interim chief administrator Amanda Bors said the province has introduced additional regulations for firefighters without increasing financial support.

Hay noted traffic accidents account for many of the fire department’s rescue calls and said council did not have an opportunity to raise that concern with a cabinet minister last year.