review
weyburn Vol.111 No. 47 - Weyburn, Saskatchewan Wednesday, November 18, 2020 - 10 Pages
ABEX Award presented
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Melissa Carson of Weyburn was featured in the ABEX Awards streamed online. Page 4
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Quota Club to continue on The Weyburn Quota Club will continue to serve the community, even though the international organization has folded. Page 7
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Public health measures expanded for Saskatchewan
The Clauses pay special visit to Midale
Review Photo 2623 — Greg Nikkel
Mrs. Claus and her famous husband, Santa, waved to the families gathered along Main Street, as the special guests for the annual Santa Claus Parade on Saturday morning in Midale. Many local groups and businesses took part in the parade, with families physically distancing along the street to watch the parade.
Detailed update given on CU Spark Centre By Greg Nikkel Work is ongoing at Weyburn’s new culture and rec centre, the Credit Union Spark Centre, and more of the details were unveiled in an update provided by Andrew Crowe, the City’s director of Leisure Services, to the Weyburn Rotary Club. He provided virtual tours of the new facility, both with the animated concept and a series of photos taken recently of the centre, with an explanation on everything being planned for the new facility. The centre is on track to be open to the public in September of 2021, along with the Legacy Park Elementary School, which is also under construction adjacent to it. “It’s going to be amazing for the community. We’re very lucky to be getting something like this,” said Crowe. “My colleagues are jealous that we going to have such a wellrounded forward-thinking facility for a community of our size,” he said. Noting that discussions and plans for this facility had been going on for five to seven years beforehand, he said the facility will be a perfect complement to its location next to Jubilee Park, which has facilities for soccer and baseball along with walking paths. With the school connected to the building, there is a joint-use community commons area that will be available to both the school and the city, plus there is an agreement outlining how the school will be able to access the recreation and culture facility, and the city will be
able to access the school gymnasium for evening programs or activities. The main floor will feature an arts wing, which includes a new larger gallery, pottery studio, storage for the City’s Permanent Art Collection, and multipurpose program rooms; the MNP indoor play and climb area; and a half-FIFA size indoor soccer field; warmup area for baseball; lounge area, and eight dressing rooms, four with access to the outdoor rink and to the adjacent outdoor sports fields. The second level will include a 220-metre threelane running track around the perimeter of the sports field, a warmup area, a mini-gym and sports simulator room, with access to 35 different sports, from golf and soccer to “zombie dodgeball”, and spectator seating for up to 280 people for the sports field below. The mini-gym is big enough for a volleyball court, or two pickleball courts, or for three-on-three basketball, said Crowe. The new outdoor rink will be official NHL-size with glass, access from the dressing rooms, and a Zamboni to keep the ice surface taken care of. The rink area will also be available for use in the summer months for various sports like box lacrosse or basketball. “We’re really excited for before and after-school programming for both arts and sports,” said Crowe, adding that with a school housing some 700 students, the City hopes the centre will have an impact on their lives also with both sports and high-quality arts
education programs. Rotary member Nancy Styles asked about the use of the parking lot, which seems to largely be done now, well ahead of the opening of the facility. Crowe noted this is part of the overall school and rec centre project, and until the properties are turned over to the City and school division, they do not have the use of the parking lot, or of any of the buildings. “Even when Wright is done the bulk of the construction of the facility, there will still be a lot of work left to be done,” said Crowe. Asked if there will be a charge for families to use the play-and-climb area, Crowe said there will be a charge, but it will be “severely subsidized”, and much lower than some
private play facilities have been charging. The City is working on how the rates will be set up, with the possibility of a leisure services pass that will give users access to all of the facilities. Member Mal Barber inquired about how the construction costs were split between the City and the Southeast Cornerstone School Division for the shared facilities. Crowe noted the jointuse space adjoining the two buildings, where there is a community kitchen, commons and washrooms area, was split 50-50, and for the parking lot, the City is paying 65 per cent and the school division 35 per cent. He also noted the two parties were able to save a lot as Wright Construction were able to do bulk buying for both facilities.
The expansion of mandatory masking in indoor public spaces and a curfew on alcohol sales in licensed establishments will be in effect as of Monday, Nov. 16 for 28 days, then subject to review by Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer. Expanded measures were announced on Friday morning by the chief medical health officer and Health Minister. In addition, all school divisions are recommended to move to Level 3. “New measures announced this week and those to be considered in the weeks to come will still be based on the fundamentals of physical distancing, staying home when you are sick and masking to protect yourself and others,” Health Minister Paul Merriman said. “Now is the time for all residents, businesses and organizations to get back to basics. Recommit to proven public health measures and return to the standards shown to work in the Re-Open Saskatchewan Plan.” Re-Open Saskatchewan: Back to Basics While COVID-19 has shown that it will take advantage of any opportunity, the fundamentals of personal protective measures and the Re-Open Saskatchewan Plan guidelines based on those measures have been demonstrated to work in preventing transmission. Every Saskatchewan resident has a personal responsibility to make public spaces safe from COVID-19 transmission, so that essential services including health care and school, can continue. “Over the past nine months, we have seen periods of extremely low transmission and periods of unacceptably high transmission here in Saskatch-
Swearing in Weyburn’s mayor and councillors
ewan,” Saskatchewan Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said. “This has not been determined by the virus; it has been determined by the actions of individuals making conscious decisions to follow best public health practices.” Shahab noted that as of Nov. 13, Saskatchewan was averaging 123 new cases per day, and previously he had said 60 cases per day was when we need to start taking notice, and at 120 cases per day, specific measures needed to be taken to slow transmission. “And we are at that rate now.” He said the test positivity rate for tests is now six per cent. With 53 in hospital on Nov. 13, he pointed out hospitalization is trending up, with a two-to-three week lag. Shahab emphasized reducing personal contacts. “We need to look at all of our activities, and slow them down,” he said, noting we should go back to one person, per household, shopping just once per week, as an example. Shahab also said he could bring presentations on an epidemiological update and a modelling update next week. With regards to a recent letter signed by over 400 physicians asking the province to do more, Merriman said, “And for hundreds of doctors to write a letter to be able to express their concerns and voice it, I think it’s very important that they did that.” All businesses and organizations must review the Re-Open Saskatchewan Plan for their respective sector guidelines and make any required changes in order to abide by them completely. These guidelines are enforceable under the public health order. Continued on Page 2
Review Photo 2823 — Greg Nikkel
Mayor Marcel Roy watched as city solicitor Mike Weger signed his declaration after taking the oath of office on Monday evening in council chambers for a new four-year term. The mayor and five of the six councillors were sworn in, and will begin with their first council meeting on Monday, Nov. 23.