Martensville City Council has allocated $2,500 in sponsorship funds toward the third annual Prairie Rivers Reconciliation Committee (PRRC) conference, slated to take place online November 8-10.

The decision by council was made at a meeting on Tuesday, September 7.

The donation is considerably higher than the $500 donation earmarked for the conference by the City of Warman at a meeting on August 23. However, Warman is also contributing an additional $250 to upgrade its Zoom account specifically to accommodate the conference.

Martensville and Warman are among 40 municipal and First Nation members of the PRRC, which was formed in 2018. Other members of the PRCC include One Arrow First Nation, Beardy’s & Okemasis Cree Nation, Mistawasis First Nation, Aberdeen, Corman Park and Duck Lake. The group was formed to build strong relationships and a long-term commitment toward Reconciliation.

Martensville City Councillor Tyson Chillog proposed allocating $2,500 for the conference, noting that as one of the larger municipalities in the PRRC, Martensville would be showing “leadership” to other communities.

“It may spur other municipalities to contribute higher amounts,” said Chillog.

The $2,500 contribution would amount to the equivalent of a “Day Sponsor” for the three-day event.  Each day has a specific theme, including ‘youth’, ‘education’ and ‘economic development.’ However, Chillog felt the funds should be used for overall expenses, and not limited to a single day.

The upcoming conference is free of charge for participants. The first PRRC conference was held in person in Warman in the fall of 2018, Martensville hosted the second event in 2019. A conference scheduled for 2020 had to be cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2018, the City of Martensville provided a $500 donation to the PRRC for its conference. In 2019, Martensville provided a meeting space free of charge in lieu of a donation.

This year’s conference is being held online via Zoom because of ongoing uncertainty about health regulations and the growing number of COVID-19 Delta variant cases.

Details of the conference are still being finalized.

HYDRANT REPAIRS

At its September 7 meeting, Martensville City Council voted to proceed with repairs to a leaking hydrant in the Manor Heights area. The repairs will be done by DC Trenching as an addition to a contract awarded to the company earlier this year for repairs to sewer and water lines.

While the hydrant repairs were unbudgeted, city administration is able to fund the project by tapping into money originally intended for excavation work that came in under budget.

BOARD APPOINTMENTS

Martensville City Councillors were appointed to boards and committees at the September 7 meeting.

The appointments include:

Councillor Spencer Nikkel (Beautification Committee); Councillor Darren MacDonald (Joint RM of Corman Park- Martensville Ad Hoc Committee on Opimihaw Creek); Deputy Mayor Tyson Chillog (Seniors/Health Committee); and Councillor Mike Cox (South Saskatchewan River North Watershed Advisory Committee).