Three innovative projects by 15 municipalities are being recognized in the 14th Annual Saskatchewan Municipal Awards.
The Saskatchewan Municipal Awards celebrate the excellent and innovative practices of Saskatchewan’s municipal governments. This year’s winners have innovated their communities with projects that promote cooperation and synergy.
The winners of the 14th Annual Saskatchewan Municipal Awards are:
First Place: Request for Service App (City of Moose Jaw).
Winning practice: Developed an app that records and tracks requests for service submitted by residents and provides valuable two-way communication between the city and its residents.
Second Place: 737 Volunteer Fire Department (RMs of Souris Valley No. 7 and Lomond No. 37). Winning practice: Established a volunteer fire department to provide wildland fire fighting services to residents and ratepayers of both municipalities in addition to mutual aid to neighbouring municipalities and counties.
Regional Cooperation: Regional Rideshare Initiative (Towns of Balgonie, Grand Coulee, Pilot Butte, Pense, and Lumsden, Villages of Buena Vista and Belle Plaine, RMs of Edenwold No. 158, Pense No. 160, Lumsden No. 189, Lajord No. 128, and Bratt’s Lake No. 129). Winning practice: Developed a regional rideshare framework where member municipalities adopt complimentary bylaws allowing rideshare companies to operate within their municipality once the companies have obtained a regional rideshare license.
The winning projects were selected by the Saskatchewan Municipal Awards Committee who reviewed six nominations, submitted on behalf of 19 municipalities.
Each year, the awards committee is made up of partners from the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM), Municipalities of Saskatchewan New North, the Rural Municipal Administrators’ Association of Saskatchewan (RMAA), the Urban Municipal Administrator Association of Saskatchewan (UMAAS), and the Ministry of Government Relations (GR).
The 2020 committee members are:
* Loretta Young (former administrator for the RM of Longlaketon No.219 and the Village of Earl Grey)
* Jim Scarrow (former Mayor of Prince Albert and former Vice-President of Cities for Municipalities of Saskatchewan)
* Don Taylor (former Board member of SARM)
* Wendy Gowda (current administrator for the RM of LeRoy and current Past President of RMAA)
* Malcolm Eaton (former Mayor of Humboldt and former Vice-President of Cities for Municipalities of Saskatchewan); and
* Keith Schneider (former Executive Director of Municipalities of Saskatchewan)
The winners will be celebrated virtually at Municipalities of Saskatchewan’s 2021 Virtual Convention and Tradeshow during the Celebrating Excellence session on February 9 at 12:15 p.m. You can observe this session via livestream on our YouTube channel using this link. They will be celebrated again at the SARM Annual Convention and Tradeshow on March 9. More information on how this can be observed will be shared at a future date.