Niverville’s council headed to their annual planning sessions on November 30 and December 1, free of outside distraction and ready to make plans for the upcoming year’s budget. The two-day, 22-hour brainstorming session was held at Providence College for the second year in a row.
Mayor Myron Dyck is grateful to the seasoned and hardworking town staff and department heads who provided the information necessary for council to make informed and concise decisions during the session. Having experienced council members around the table also expedited the process, he says, allowing council to anticipate a first reading of the new budget sometime in December.
“This was my fourteenth planning session and I thought this was about as smooth as any have gone,” Dyck says. “Staff did a tremendous job of putting the agenda together. [We had] wonderful discussions and we’re looking forward to a lot of [new] things. We have a lot of [items] timelined and we’re trying to build a roadmap [into the future]. We’re excited about the next four years and we’re very excited about this next year.”
This year’s itinerary focused on five main areas: planning and development, operations and utilities, economic development, recreation, and protective services. By the end of the discussion period, council was presented with a 2019 budget plan.
One of the first items requiring 2019 funding will be the paving of Sixth Avenue South. In past years, municipalities have received infrastructure funding from the provincial government through the Bridges and Roads program, a program established years ago by the NDP government when PST saw a one percent increase.
As of 2019, the current provincial government will be pulling this funding to rural Manitoba, leaving local governments to fend for themselves. Because of this, Niverville’s council will need to pave Sixth Avenue in sections as funds allow. The first section designated for paving will run from Main Street to Errington Way.
Young families will be glad to hear that construction will also begin on the Hespeler Park splash pad playground in the new year. The approximate $300,000 project will be completed in two phases, the first of which will occur in 2019. The playground is expected to be located immediately adjacent to the splash pad.
The parking lot at the south end of Hespeler Park will also be expanded to accommodate residents and visitors enjoying the park throughout the year. The parking lot will extend west into the existing unused grassy area.
As announced in November, council will be investing in a new Rescue 1 vehicle which will assist the Fire and Emergency Services department in their rescue calls and replace their current aging vehicle.
April will see council’s move to their new administrative office on Bronstone Drive after renovations and interior outfitting has been completed.
And in anticipation of a new Community Resource Centre (CRC) and high school on the west side of the CP rail tracks, council has made a budget allowance for a new pedestrian crossing over the tracks.
“We had a meeting pending [with CP Rail], which has been postponed and right now it has been rescheduled to next week,” Dyck says. “We’re hoping that all parties are able to make it. We’ve just set aside some [funds for now]. This will be a negotiation as to who’s paying for what.”
Council continues to set aside funds for the new CRC as well, while they wait on the federal government regarding the grants for which they’ve applied.
“Should the grant come to fruition, the town will focus sidewalk redevelopment in this area for 2019,” Dyck adds. “So, getting kids to and from the [high school]…may take precedence over our Main Street initiative.”
But the largest new project to come out of the planning sessions is a move to begin replacing the sewer system in the aging sections of Niverville with new pipes. The project is expected to begin in 2020 and continue every second year in increments of a few blocks at a time. The project in its entirety is expected to take 13 years to complete.
“What we’ve seen in homes in the sixties and seventies and older, is that the type of pipe used… in many places it’s just the ground that’s holding the pipe together,” says Dyck. “There is significant cracking in places. What this will involve is digging up that sewer pipe and replacing it and then repaving the road.”
Since roads require a year to settle before repaving, residents in affected areas can expect a little better than a year of construction on their street. Once complete, the core area of Niverville will have all new pavement on their streets and a long-term solution to their antiquated sewer system.
Dyck says that council considered the option of installing curb and gutters in the aging section of town but determined that, in doing so, resident’s properties would be negatively affected.
Other items, too, hit the agenda this year, including policing. Dyck says more information on that will be forthcoming in the new year as the policing study which they commissioned comes to completion.