G
W NE
TIN LIS
58 Spice Drive, Yorkton 3 Beds, 3 Baths, 1,994 Sq Ft
Sandi Shewchuk 306-621-9015
One of a kind home with a great layout located on a quiet street, backing onto the Weinmaster park.
sshewchuk@remax-yorkton.ca
The large back yard has a maintenance free deck, gas BBQ hook up, and patio area. The garage is ideal, a true double with a shop/storage alcove, is heated and provides the always needed extra storage space.
$394,000
MLS®#: SK860246
Volume 47, Issue 45 Price - $1.52 plus GST
Your Community Connection
Return undeliverable items to: Yorkton This Week 20 Third Ave. N., Yorkton, SK S3N 2X3
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
The City received the hotel property for property taxes owing, and found the building in such poor condition a tender for sale resulted in no bids.
City set to demolish hotel building By Calvin Daniels Staff Writer The City of Yorkton was handed the property at 110 Broadway Street East – the former Ramada Hotel by Cornerstone Credit Union for taxes owing in the amount of $742,788.56. Monday night at the regular meeting of
Yorkton Council, Ashley Stradeski, Director of Finance with the City, explained the building as it sits is not saleable. “The building’s in a lot worse shape than we’d thought,” he said, adding administration proceeded with a full review of the property and confirmed “. . . it’s in really bad shape.”
As a result, efforts to sell the building have not been successful. Prior to the final decisions by The Cornerstone Credit Union to hand the property to the City, The Cornerstone Credit Union had advertised the property for sale and had auctioned all contents of the property prior to the transfer of ownership
to the City of Yorkton, detailed a report circulated to Council. On May 5, 2021, 110 Broadway Street East was offered out to Public Tender for Sale for a three-week period as is required by the Tax Enforcement Act. The tender included a $750,000 reserve bid and two options, which were
to demolish the structure within six months or to repair/upgrade within six months. There were no bids submitted for the purchase of the property by the tender closing date of May 26, 2021. “It generated interest,” said Stradeski, adding the City took calls on the property but “at the
end of the day, there was zero bids on it.” Stradeski did note to bring the building up to code before starting renovations was estimated to be almost $5 million. While there were no bids, the City has had expenditures surrounding the property.
Continued on Page A2
Council fine tunes clubhouse plan By Calvin Daniels Staff Writer Work continues on the design of a new clubhouse for Deer Park Golf Course in the city. Monday, at the regular meeting of Yorkton Council, Mitch Strocen of aodbt Architecture and Interior Design provided an update on the proposed design. The intent is to have
Council confirm the scope of the design and to provide direction on options for cart storage before moving on to the detailed design phase. Strocen provided material on a design that is now just shy of 8,500 square feet, as directed previously by Council, which is slightly larger than the initial approved footprint of approx. 7,000 square feet.
The additional square feet were spread over several areas of the building, most notably the food services area, which will now include indoor seating, a covered patio area that can be curtained to provide additional summer seating on inclement days, and an uncovered patio as well. The location for the new clubhouse is basically on top of where the
existing one sits, meaning the course will be relegated to trailers for one summer when construction takes place. The presentation also presented options for cart storage, including under the deck area or a stand-alone building. However, Councillor Chris Wyatt questioned whether the taxpayer needs to pay for any type of storage since the carts
are owned and operated by someone the City contracts to provide them, so the City realizes no revenue from the carts. “It’s (cart storage) not a City of Yorkton problem ... the problem for winter storage isn’t our problem,” he said. Coun. Ken Chyz suggested the City needed to look toward the future when considering cart storage.
“I think we have to look to the future,” he said, suggesting most courses own carts and rent them as a major revenue source. He suggested at some point; they are likely to own the carts at Deer Park. Mayor Mitch Hippsley also said there was a need to look to the future, “not just what’s happening today.”
Continued on Page A2
Brears seeks assessment system changes By Calvin Daniels Staff Writer Yorkton Councillor Dustin Brears wants to see changes in how the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency determines assessment values. At the regular meeting
of Yorkton Council, Brears brought four motions to the table regarding the issue. One motion to explore and analyze using an agency or internal staff other than SAMA to provide the assessments for the City of Yorkton and surrounding communities (should the outside communities
decide to come on board) was ultimately withdrawn. A motion that needs a “Saskatchewan” touch brought into it to make it more relevant and accurate for the communities in this province was defeated, with only Brears and Mayor Mitch Hippsley voting in favour.
The issue for Coun. Chris Wyatt was that going it alone was going to cost taxpayers far more than what the City currently contract SAMA for. Coun. Randy Goulden added in 2016, the cost to go it alone was estimated to be $556,000 without appeal process costs. “I’m thinking we get good
bang for our dollars,” she said. The other two motions met with greater success for Brears, both passing. The first called for the City to include a disclaimer when sending out tax notices noting the assessment numbers
Continued on Page A2
Hear it. Live it. Protect the sounds that matter most. BOOK AN APPOINTMENT TODAY! NO REFERRAL NECESSARY.
275 Bradbrooke Dr Yorkton, SK S3N 3L3
306.782.1881 premiercarehearing.ca
Coralee Schoenrock
M.A, Aud(C) Audiologist/Owner Registered Sk