The sports fields and community garden in Martensville’s Kinsmen Park will continue to be irrigated next summer, thanks to a replacement pump installed in the park retention pond last fall.
When the old pond pump failed in late September, 2022; it was determined to be beyond repair. Because the pump is an essential part of the irrigation system for the park and any delays in the spring could be costly, a new pump was ordered. It arrived ahead of schedule and was installed before freeze-up.
However, the pump replacement cost was not included in the city’s 2022 budget. Instead, funds for the new pump were allocated in the city’s 2023 capital budget.
Now the city is looking at paying its bill for the pump from surplus funds left over in the 2022 budget.
Martensville City Council is slated to vote at its meeting on Tuesday, January 17 on a recommendation from city administration to transfer $20,000 from the city’s 2022 budget surplus to JT Sprinkler Systems, the company which provided the pump and is also responsible for doing the slow-pitch irrigation system upgrade.
The recommendation was tabled in a report by the city’s recreation and community services department to the city council committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday, January 10. By drawing funds from the 2022 budget surplus, the pump replacement cost item can be struck from the 2023 capital budget.
Council is expected to approve the recommendation at its January 17 meeting.
YOUTH PROGRAMMING
Martensville City Council is also expected to vote at its January 17 meeting on a proposal to waive rental fees at some civic facilities for the Martensville Youth Connection (MYC).
A recommendation from the city’s recreation and community services department tabled at the city council committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday, January 10 suggested rooms be made available to the MYC for youth programming at the North Ridge Centennial Community Centre (NRCCC), Valley Manor School, the Martensville Athletic Pavilion (MAP) and Venture Heights School for the 2023 calendar year.
Each facility would be available for one evening a week: the NRCCC on Mondays, Valley Manor School on Wednesdays, the MAP on Thursdays and Venture Heights School on Fridays. No location is required for Tuesdays because the program takes place at a private business, PAWS Republic, that day.
The city has a long-standing joint-use agreement with Prairie Spirit School Division that governs rentals of school facilities.
The city administration report to the January 10 council meeting stated that the cost to rent these civic and school facilities, based on current service group rates, is $267.75 per week. The annual cost, depending on the number of weeks the MYC program operates, is estimated to be between $10,000 and $13,000.
If city council votes at its January 17 meeting to waive rental fees for these facilities for the MYC, the administration report suggests the rental revenue could be backfilled by the city through its City Council Public Relations account.