By KEVIN BERGER, Local Journalism Initiative
Town of Langham councillors passed a motion at their February 24 meeting to accept a proposal from ISL Engineering and Land Services to oversee the drilling of two new water wells and the rehabilitation of the community’s two existing wells at an estimated cost of $60,037.
The proposal notes that Langham has two registered source wells, which were both drilled in 2003 to depths of 131 feet and 136 feet, and the town is planning to add two wells to tie into the current system.
ISL states that the firm will be involved in determining the location of the two wells, applying for a permit to conduct a ground water investigation, assisting with the procuring of a qualified water driller, observing the actual drilling and collecting the necessary tests, co-ordinating with the town prior to the new wells before they are operational, and working with the driller to conduct rehabilitation on the existing wells.
A timeline provided by ISL suggested that this work would begin in February and March, with drilling and testing to take place in April. A final Water Licence report would be submitted to the Water Security Agency (WSA) by May.
Chief administrative officer Jamie Nagy told council they had received one proposal from another company, but recommended they go with ISL’s proposal because the estimated cost came in well under the other one.
2025 BUDGET
Councillors also passed a motion to accept the amended 2025 operating and capital budget, which will see the municipality end the year with a $255,000 surplus that will be transferred to reserves.
The municipality will accumulate a total of $6.248 million in revenue, including $1.3 million from taxes, $2.06 million in grants, $1.069 million in utilities and $289,720 from fees and charges.
In terms of expenditures, the municipality will spend $3.121 million on water and sewer services, $717,100 on general government services, $611,630 on transportation, $524,900 on planning and development and $431,070 on recreation services.
PLAYGROUND GRANT
Councillors also passed a motion to apply for $5,000 in funding from the Canada Post Community Foundation Grant to put towards the purchase of additional pieces of play equipment for the Langham Community Park.
Noting that a new playground is currently being put in at the elementary school, councillor Brendan Proctor pointed out that $5,000 would not get much in terms of additional equipment.
“It’s ridiculous how much (play equipment) costs now,” he said.
Noting that there are limited grants that can be for playground equipment, Nagy said they do have some reserves that they could utilize, but they were also hoping to “go about it a different way” than when they installed a swing set for the community park.
“It ended up being a lot of money just for that small portion of the park,” she said.
Instead, Nagy said they would maybe utilize the expertise of their staff and talk to people at the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) to explore some other ideas.