Neepawa Council Debrief: Keeping Active and Keeping Safe

There is plenty of participACTION to look forward to this summer thanks to a recent grant from the federal government. At the recent May 16th town council meeting in Neepawa, Councillor Sisley reports on several free Family Fitness in the Park sessions that will be taking place on Sundays starting on June 4. Sisley also announces a new project called the Children’s Business Fair that will encourage youth aged 15 and under with their startup businesses. Town EDO Marilyn Crewe will be working with the schools to promote this exciting new event, and more details will be available in the near future.

Manager of Operations Denis Saquet reports that spring cleaning is nearly wrapped up, and town employees are in the process of reseeding a few areas to repair any snow clearing damage. He thanks several volunteer organisations for stepping up to help clean up rubbish around town, and also reports that trees will be arriving this month and next and spring planting will occur soon.

Saquet wants to assure residents that the bridge at Park Lake that currently goes into the lake bed is a temporary construction bridge and will not be permanent. While he cannot guarantee the schedule of our paving company, it is also expected that the tennis courts will be completed within the next couple of weeks.

CAO Colleen Synchyshyn introduces a new Abuse and Molestation Policy, which is zero tolerance when it comes to abuse of vulnerable populations including children. This initiative comes from the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, and is different from existing harassment policies. While municipalities are not required to put such a policy in place, there could be legal and insurance implications later on if one does not exist.

The town is also embarking on a couple more construction projects in the near future. The first is a pair of viewing towers along the Trans Canada Trail, including at the bike park. These will be of steel construction, and the cost is partially covered by a grant already received by the town. As well, the town has accepted a tender to construct an addition to the old RCMP building that will soon be used as an Assiniboine Community College (ACC) training facility, pending clarification of some completion dates. There is a very tight turnaround time on this project as ACC needs to install several pieces of specialty equipment after construction is done, and the first nursing class is scheduled to begin in January.

Also covered were Handivan ridership statistics for April and the third reading of the new fire protection agreement with the RM of Rosedale.